Runaways: Southern Comforts
by Ri-kun
Summary: AU/OC New place and time, but some things never change: Parents are evil, and adults cannot be trusted! A new team of runaways deal with a whole new Pride.
1. Southern Comforts: Two Story Town

Runaways:

Southern Comforts

Chapter 1

Two Story Town

by Ri-kun

I always imagined that being a preacher's son would be horrible.

Not that I can speak from personal experience. My friend Gabriel is the one who has to live with that particular burden. I, on the other hand, was always told by everyone I knew that my parents were cool. They were always around when I was growing up, volunteering for things, and offering to be chaperones for youth trips. No one minded, since that meant they didn't have to do it. My parents always let us stay up later than anyone else would have, so long as we managed to get a decent amount of sleep. They almost never grounded me, and I really can't remember the last time I got punished for doing something wrong.

My dad used to be a Marine when he was younger. He never signed up for it; the judge offered him a plea bargain. He got into trouble for stealing some old lady's car when he was in high school, and the police busted him. I think, by that point, he'd already run away from home and was living with some friends of his. So anyway, the judge gave him a choice: Ten years in a federal prison, or service to his country. Since he was over eighteen, the choice must've been pretty damn obvious.

Dad never talks about what Vietnam was like. I'm guessing it was as bad as people let on, but he never once took it out on any of us. He married my mom while he was stationed over in Japan a few years after the President ordered everyone out. After they got married, he came home and started his own business. We manufacture engine heads for big trucks; the company was worth over two million before I could walk. Mom stays home so she can take care of my older brother and me in case something goes wrong. At least, that was the excuse she used, up until my brother headed off for college.

I guess you could call that the one grey cloud in my sky. My brother Joseph and I have never gotten along very well. He liked to treat me as though he could do everything better than I could; I hated him for it! To this day, I don't miss him much.

Since he's gone off to college, life has gotten a lot better. I spend my days at school just like any teenager, go to church because my mom insists on it, and spend every Thursday night at our youth group leader's house watching anime.

That last part sounds pretty strange, even to me. We're not really sure how it got started, these get-togethers that have become collectively known as Anime Night. I've been into anime since junior high, and when Gabriel's father became the new pastor, I found out he liked it to. So, we started hanging out a lot between classes and a lunchtimes. I don't think Gabriel had many friends before me; he always acts kind of withdrawn and quiet. His parents keep him on a really short leash, and fly off on a limb at the slightest thing! I keep inviting him over to my place, but my hunch says he turns me down because of them.

Anyway, shortly after that, this girl named O-Ren started coming to church. Her friend Nicole had invited her, on account that she was an atheist. In a town like Meridian, which is lurched right in the middle of the Bible Belt, being an atheist is akin to being on the endangered species list. People seem to think you need religion the same way fish need to breath water! I've never understood it, and didn't plan on trying to convert her to anything, but O-Ren soon became a main staple in our growing circle. One of the best things about having her around is that she annoys the hell out of this guy I know named Miguel Wright.

Miguel wouldn't have been my first choice for a friend; he picks on Gabriel something fierce, like not doing so would be un-American or something. Miguel and O-Ren are both good with computers, but Miguel leans more towards hacking and software. O-Ren, on the other hand, should be working for the Avengers, the way she builds them! O-Ren is also a black belt, and can kick Miguel's butt everytime. I don't think I'll ever get tired of watching that; it's hilarious!

O-Ren's parents run a pharmacy downtown. They're pretty strict with her, too, but she at least can leave her house without them having her followed. As far as we can tell, anyways! Miguel lives with his family above a garage. His dad repairs cars, and he spends a lot of time either working with them, or lifting weights. I really don't understand his obsession with body sculpting, since he doesn't play football. As it turns out, O-Ren loves Dragonball Z and martial arts movies. Miguel, on the other hand, doesn't really know much about any anime, but he found it interesting, and wanted to come along. Nicole was the one who told him he could, so I kept my mouth shut.

She's the other reason I'm so grateful O-Ren joined our group. You'd never find a more unlikely pair; O-Ren Wong loves to pick fights with bigger guys just to prove she can kick their asses. Nicole Sultler is on the varsity squad, and has been an honor student since she was four. I've been in love with her for two straight years, and never once had the balls to go up and say hi.

Pathetic, I know. But, there are just some things that you can't do when you're fifteen, and talking to girls without stammering just so happens to be one of them. I didn't make the rules, so don't blame me!

My name is Daniel Whittaker, by the way. As mentioned above, I live in a place called Meridian, which is a small town in central Mississippi located near the Alabama border. Just about the only exciting thing that happens here is the occasional Hollywood movie director trying to slip in unannounced for a couple of days to shoot footage for a movie. That, and the rumor that one of the X-Men grew up here. I think it was one of the girl members, but don't ask which one. I forget!

We moved here when I was young, so I guess you could say that I've lived here all my life. I used to think my existence was pretty boring; I had a couple of good friends, my grades weren't too bad if you don't count the math, and my collection of anime DVDs was steadily growing by the month. Our youth director even let us hang out at his place so we could have somewhere to go and watch without people bothering us. Some of the older people at church complained about what we were watching, but by far everyone thought it was better for us to be there than somewhere else. As long as there were no drugs or alcohol involved, I think they assumed it wasn't so bad.

Actually, that was where all this started.

The week had started off pretty much the same it always did. Gabriel sat at the same table I did during lunch. Miguel Wright ignored us both and pretended he couldn't see us; he ran with his own circle of friends during school. O-Ren said hi to me a couple of times, and asked if we'd be able to finish Saber Marionette J anytime soon. And, I was secretly practicing a conversation I was planning to start with Nicole on Thursday night at some point. Everyone was showing up for our youth group meeting; we had those while the adults met in the sanctuary and...

Well, I was never really curious enough to find out. Praying for our ruination so they could save us from a life of sin, perhaps! Truthfully, I might have stopped coming to this if Anime Night didn't follow immediately after. Jeff, our youth director, has this big SUV we all ride over to his house in. It might not be very economic in this day and age, but at least everyone could sit together without bumping elbows or sitting in one another's laps.

Gabriel had shown up with his parents, which makes sense since his stepfather is required to. I could overhear his mother going through the same routine she did every week, trying to convince him that he should come sit with the adults instead. She sounds so polite on the surface, but I honestly get creeped out listening to her. There's something about the way she talks to him that gives me cold chills. I've often wondered just what goes on at his house, but have never had the guts to ask. I had just began to wonder if I shouldn't that night, interestingly enough.

Then Nicole came through the gym doors, and I sort of lost track of things for a while. O-Ren might've been with her, but I couldn't have told you! I only had eyes for her, and ears for the rapid pounding in my chest when she walked close by. Gabriel gave me a knowing look, but didn't say anything. I'd been reluctant for a while to start over in a new relationship with a girl. My last one had ended quite disasterously, and the scars ran quite deep. It was a testament to our friendship that Gabriel hadn't laughed when I told him what happened. He was the one who suggested I try to at least be friends with Nicole, since I was so obsessed with her. I'd have liked to argue that I was merely infatuated, but when a duck is a duck, you call it one!

Then Jeff showed up, and we all tried to settle down and behave like good little kids. It was a fairly exciting lesson overall; twice someone jumped up out of their seats before the closing prayer was finished. I think Jeff kept going to punish them, but he was dragging us all along for the ride! Oh, and at one point, a certain someone who shall remain nameless lost their grip on the basketball they were holding, and sent it bouncing right into Gabriel's head. He managed to duck just in time, but it was a narrow miss. I gave Miguel a really hard glare, which did absolutely no good whatsoever. O-Ren chunked a really sharp pencil at his forehead when Jeff's back was turned, though. The look on his face was priceless, and so was the scar she left!

I was hoping he'd wind up with lead poisoning!

When the youth meeting was finally dismissed, Gabriel and I headed immediately for the SUV. We weren't the only ones, even though Jeff wouldn't be along for several minutes more. He always liked to take his time waiting for the adults to come out. Most of our parents would stand around and talk with one another for a few minutes, so we killed time by doing the same.

I was actually a little proud of the Anime Nights club. Even though most of the adults at our church hated it, we weren't doing anything illegal or wrong, so there wasn't anything they could do to shut it down. So long as Jeff was the chaperone, we could get together once a week and watch our favorite japanese television shows. Miguel was a sore spot I had to deal with, but until Jeff decided he wasn't welcome anymore, I was willing to wait. There was no chance in hell he could go for too long without screwing something up.

Finally, Jeff broke away from Gabriel's parents and headed our way. We all cheered when he opened the doors from a distance and let us climb in. It was a noisy ride to his house, as always. Nothing seemed the least bit out of order. I thought the only strange thing that might occur that night was if Nicole might actually say something positive in response to...

Well, truthfully, I had yet to come up with anything really brilliant. For all my imagined conversations, I still couldn't come up with something to say that might make her fall into my arms with lustful abandon. Hey, I might have been your typical good small town boy with a nice Christian upbringing at that point, but that didn't mean I planned on staying a virgin forever! I wasn't even planning on staying a virgin until marriage. I'd only signed that card they gave us because my mom was watching!

Gabriel was oddly subdued. That should've been a warning for me, but I was honestly too nervous to notice much at that point. My eyes kept drifting over to the seat in front of me where she sat. The scent of shampoo that she used was steadily drifting past my nostrils, making them flare outward like a bull ready to charge. I felt as if I were one, only smaller and nowhere near as confident. I really did believe at that point that I was turning into a sick man.

I was about to find out just how sick a man could be!

We all poured into Jeff's living room and took our usual places. O-Ren liked to sit on the couch, and so did Miguel. They usually spent at least ten minutes arguing over who got which side, before Nicole stepped in and settled the matter by sitting in the middle between them. If I didn't loath Miguel so much, and wasn't quite as afraid that O-Ren would laugh at me, I might have gotten up and asked to trade seats with one of them. Gabriel and I almost always sat in the love seat together across from the trio, giving me the maximum view of Nicole's face, while Jeff would lay back in his recliner and fall asleep before the first episode was over. He hated subtitles.

That night, Gabriel climbed into the only other recliner available, leaving me to sit on the couch with Nicole, while O-Ren and Miguel sat next to each other on the love seat. The only one who stayed true to the usual arrangement was Jeff, and he managed to pass out before the opening credits were done. All this should have been an obvious omen of things to come, but again, I was distracted. This was the first time Nicole and I had sat together on Anime Night.

Of course, we were sitting on opposite ends of the couch. That minor detail couldn't be overlooked, but it was still only a glitch as far as I was concerned. O-Ren had sat down on one end of the love seat without a word, and Miguel had joined her. Granted, they were keeping as far away from each other as they could, but for once, things were quiet. I found myself glancing Nicole's way every other second, wondering if there wasn't some way for me to get her attention. Everything I came up with either fell short of my expectations, would have been impossible to pull off properly, or could only have ended with me humiliating myself.

I decided to sit back and enjoy the show. We were getting close to the end of the series, and I always loved watching it. The main character reminded me of myself somehow, and the three girls chasing after him were always funny somehow, even as the entire planet was being threatened. As we neared the last two episodes, a cold iron lump began to form in my stomach, however. I'd completely forgotten how this series ended, and the all-important fact that it never failed to make me burst into tears. I firmly believed that it wasn't wrong to cry while watching anime if the situation called for it. Though, to be fair, I also believed firmly that it was wrong to bawl one's eyes out in an unmanly fashion before the girl one had been lusting after for so long.

Two of my strongest beliefs were coming into conflict with each other while the climax onscreen rapidly approached. Sure enough, as Otaru was tricked into entering the escape pod while the three marionettes said their goodbyes, a tear escaped down my right cheek. I quickly wiped it away, and hoped for all I was worth that that would be it. Unfortunately, it wasn't!

A few seconds later, the water works really started rolling. It was a good thing the lights had been turned off when we started, or else everyone would have noticed by now. I thought I saw Miguel run a finger across his left eye, but one tear wasn't nearly as bad as fifty or so! I had to get out of the room to clean my face off before anyone saw me.

Clearing my throat, I stood up as calmly as possible and headed off towards the bathroom. Having been over at Jeff's house numerous times before, I knew the place well. Running cold water over my face in the sink, I observed myself in the mirror with a mixture of shame and comedic self-abuse. My face hadn't looked this messed up since our cat Bo Bo died when I was in sixth grade! There was no way I could go out and face everyone looking like this. The only sensible thing to do was keep running water and wait until my skin wasn't the bright shade of vermillion it was currently turning.

I don't know how long I was in there, but it must have been a good while, because there was a knock at the door. I opened it without thinking, and there was Nicole standing right in front of me. She looked surprised, like she hadn't been expecting to find me in there, but I think that could have been because of how red my eyes were. I surely looked like a hay fever victim on crack! On the list of ways I'd always hoped to have a conversation with Nicole, this was ranked somewhere off the very bottom of the page, and I'd used a very long roll of parchment in my imagination to write them.

By the look on her face, Nicole guessed what I was doing, but asked anyway.

"Are you okay?"

I tried to smile sheepishly, but only succeeded in making her look even more alarmed. No excuse for my appearance came to me, so I opted to just shrug and act as if everything was perfectly normal. "Yeah, I'm fine. How long was I gone?"

"The last episode is over," she told me, smiling in a kind way. "You've been in here for over a half hour."

I'd just spent the last half hour bawling my eyes out over a foreign cartoon show, but this woman in front of me wasn't laughing. She hadn't so much as snickered in my general direction the whole time. She actually got up off the couch to come and see about me. I couldn't have loved her more in that moment if I tried!

But, I wasn't about to tell her that. "Oh, okay!" I said instead. "I guess that's it for tonight."

"That's not fair," she insisted. "We could put the DVD back in and see the last episode over, since you missed out on it."

"I've watched the whole series before," I told her, very quickly. "It's a rerun for me!"

I don't believe she offered to do that for the pleasure of seeing me squall all over again, but nothing in the universe at that moment could have gotten me back in the living room again to see that episode over. I probably sound like a wimp, but it is one major tearjerker for me. The idea that three distinct women could love one guy enough to give up their lives in exchange for his safety...

That kind of love just didn't exist in the world, and it always broke my heart to watch it play out in front of me.

"You can come back in the living room," she assured me after a moment. "If anyone tries to laugh at you, I'll chuck Jeff's first edition copy of the 'Four Virtues of Love' he made us all read last year at their heads!"

"Ouch!" I winced. "The hardback edition?"

"You got it!" she told me, smiling. Her smile was like... a lot of extremely poetic things I cared not to go into detail about! Our eyes met for a second, and I suddenly didn't want to move. She was smiling at me as she looked in my eyes, hers shining like a field of blue flowers in the summertime. The moment that thought went through me, I knew I had to do something. It was one thing to remain obsessed with a beautiful cheerleader from a distance for two straight years. When bad 18th century poetry started cropping up from my subconscious comparing her anatomical parts to nature, something had to give. I had to at least give her some idea of how I felt before my brain began working it's way down the list, and fast!

I'm not so sure I wanted to know what my fanfiction-addled mind would come up with once we passed below the belt!

"Nicole..." I muttered, clearing my throat. That was way too weak, so I tried again. "Nicole!"

"Hmmm?" she asked, her eyebrows raising slightly.

"I... er, that is... I was just wondering..."

And it was exactly at that moment that Miguel Wright chose to come bounding down the hallway exuberantly, sending a number of pictures flying off the wall as he came. If looks could kill, he would have exploded on the spot into a million different messy pieces like those people in the End of Evangelion movie.

"Hey, guys! What are you two doing?"

_Plotting your untimely demise_, I thought to myself, but kept from saying by looking the other way.

"Dan had to use the bathroom," Nicole replied, covering for me. I wanted to thank her, but Miguel was giving me a very sly look.

"Starting crying your eyes out?" he asked coyly. "That's cool, man!"

"Yes, it is!" Nicole said in a firm voice. "Because of your sobbing, and O-Ren making jokes at your expense, I couldn't hear half of what was said just the last episode! I guess it's a good thing the subtitles were clear enough this time around. I could at least **read **what the people were staying to each other!"

Miguel turned a very bright shade of red, which made my evening complete. Seeing O-Ren come up behind him would have been icing on the cake, but she acted like Miguel wasn't even there. Gabriel was behind her, and he looked even paler than before. Something finally clicked in my brain then, and I searched from one face to the next, hoping there might be some secret message spelled out in pimples that would give me a clue to follow. When that came up empty, I tried the secondary plan.

I asked.

Nicole beat me to it, though. "Is everybody okay?"

O-Ren shrugged, which told me something was indeed wrong. She never shrugged that way unless she was trying to pretend that nothing was bothering her. We might not have been very close friends, but I had spent enough time around her in the last year to figure that much out.

"Nothing, really!" O-Ren said in a low voice. "It's just that... I might not be able to come back for a while. My parents were pitching a fit about my English Lit grade last night, and told me I couldn't come over anymore until it goes back up."

"My mom was pretty pissed," she added, when no one said anything. "She threatened to hit me if I argued with her."

"My mom hits me all the time," Gabriel said. He spoke in such a matter-of-fact voice that I don't think we knew if he were joking or not.

O-Ren looked at him hard as she spoke. "My mom knows better than to lay a hand on me. The last time one of my dad's old friends visited us from Hong Kong, he tried to make a pass at me. The bastard wound up being air-lifted to the hospital so they could operate on both his kneecaps!"

"Why didn't you ever tell us..." Nicole said, looking alarmed. I could understand her shock; in all the time I'd known him, Gabriel never mentioned being abused.

Gabriel stuffed his hands in his pocket and shrugged quite similar to the way O-Ren had. "No one ever believes me when I tell them what it's like at home. My stepfather is the preacher, so of course he can't do anything wrong. I gave up on anyone believing me a while back!"

No one seemed to know what to say to that. I wanted to reassure him that we could do something if we worked together. Problems like this are so much better in shojo anime, where the characters can resolve things in twenty minutes or less. The only exception is when the problem is part of an ongoing plot thread.

"My mom never hits me," Miguel spoke up, looking sheepish. "But both my parents are pretty strict. They're always calling the school to make sure I've taken my medications, and to make sure I haven't skipped any classes. It's like I'm always guilty of things before I've had a chance to think about doing them."

For all his faults, Miguel tried to stay out of trouble. I found myself empathizing with him somewhat for a moment.

"I didn't know you took medications," O-Ren said, looking at him curiously.

"They come from your parents' pharmacy!" he replied, as if that solved everything.

"I spend as little time with my parents as possible," she responded. "We don't exactly get along, if you haven't been following what I was saying. I know keeping up in a conversation isn't really a strong point of yours!"

"At ease, both of you!" Nicole ordered, sensing an argument in the works.

Silence fell over the five of us, the kind where you know everyone is thinking of the exact same thing, and hoping someone else will speak first. We'd just heard Gabriel admit that his mom hit him, and by the tone of his voice, frequently. That wasn't the sort of thing that generally came up in the conversations I had, so I was pretty much at a loss as to what we should all do. It was Nicole who came up with a solution.

"Let's just go back to the living room and wake Jeff up so he can take us all home. We'll... talk about getting together next week. In the meantime, if anyone here needs a place to stay because of... certain circumstances, let me know. I can probably swing something with my parents."

As everyone else turned around, I saw Nicole take Gabriel gently by the arm. A flash of jealousy went through me hard enough that I blinked in surprise. Luckily, they were still close enough for me to hear, proving that my irrational fears were unfounded.

"Do you want me to talk to my mom for you?" she whispered near his ear.

Nicole's father was the principle of the school, and her mother worked for the district as the student councelor. If Gabriel wanted her to, she would surely ask about what could be done. Nicole was just that sort of person. Unfortunately, I also knew what sort of person Gabriel was. When he shook his head, it didn't surprise me.

What did take catch me off-guard a second later was Miguel's voice. Apparently, I'd gotten so distracted watching Nicole and Gabriel's exchange that I didn't see Miguel. He hadn't left the hallway either, and was still standing more or less in the same spot. His face was pressed up against the wall, staring hard at something I couldn't see.

"There's something behind this wall!" he told us, excitedly. "I can see it from here!"

I noticed the spot where he was standing had been covered by a picture. Miguel had undoubtedly knocked it off when he came running up at us earlier.

"What are you staring at?" O-Ren called out irritably, walking back towards us.

"I'm serious," he told us, and sounded like it for once. "There's something behind this wall, like a secret passageway!"

Miguel's eyes shown like a little kid's. "Why would there be a secret passageway in Jeff Woltz's house? That doesn't make any sense."

"Actually," he paused, rather dramatically. "It does. I've suspected this for a while now, but there wasn't any proof! At least, not until this..."

"What?" O-Ren taunted. "You think Jeff is some kind of spy?"

"No," he said hurriedly, looking behind her. "I think Jeff... is a superhero!"

There was about a half-second pause, then several of us snorted. "No! Listen to me..." Miguel insisted, but O-Ren cut him off.

"If Jeff is a superhero, then I'm... The Invisible Woman! Honestly, Miguel, I think you've been keeping track of costumed freaks for way too long. There is no way in hell Jeff could possibly be a superhero!"

"Really?" he challenged. Clearly, he'd been planning this argument for months. "How much do any of us really know about Jeff, huh? Do any of you know where he came from before moving here to Meridian? What church did he teach at before coming here?"

"What brand of shoelace did he use?" O-Ren added, mockingly. "You can always judge whether somebody is a superhero in disguise by what sort of shoelace brand they use! Before you say another word, Miguel, let me be the first to point out that, were Jeff a superhero, there would be some nutcase just like you claiming to have been saved by a... flying blob of liquid, or a bouncing kangaroo man!"

"The Kangaroo is a villian," he corrected smugly.

"Thank you. My life is so much more enriched knowing that."

"Look!" Miguel turned to face the rest of us, ignoring his only critic so far. "It was all over the news last year, so I know some of you had to have seen it. The government passed a whole bunch of new laws saying that superheroes had to register their secret identities, and allow themselves to be relocated to a new area. Jeff could have been sent to us incognito, waiting for the right time to reveal himself!"

"And why," O-Ren started up again. "Would Meridian need a superhero. Nothing exciting ever goes on in this two-story town, unless you count the occasional Kree sighting."

Miguel looked at her in shock. "I didn't know people said there were Kree around here! Where did you learn about it?"

"The world is full of freaks like you who see conspiracies and costumed crimefighters everywhere," she said, dismissively. "And for your information, just because I don't spend all my time glued to websites that keep track of every Tom, Dick, and Daredevil in the world, that doesn't mean I don't hear things. And besides, wasn't your choice in internet browsing the reason they banned you from the computer lab."

"No," Gabriel spoke up, abruptly. "That was because of the porn."

Miguel turned red again, and tried to change the subject. "Look," he insisted. "There's a secret passageway behind this wall, and I'm gonna figure out how to open it!"

And with that, in typical Miguel fashion, he began twisting and turning every picture still hanging on the wall. When that didn't work, he tried knocking at the wall, apparently searching for a section that could give way. Everyone else was watching him like he'd lost his mind.

"Miguel, assuming there is a secret passageway, what makes you think a way to open it is here in the hallway?"

Miguel gave Nicole a look like the answer was obvious, which nearly earned him a smack across the head from me. "What movies do you watch?!" he asked, incredulously. "Secret passages always have a switch nearby. It's like a law, or something!"

I was close to adding a retort of my own, when his hand fumbled across the plastic crucifix, turning it upside down. Instantly, the wall in front of him pulled itself inward, exposing a staircase that led off to the side downward. Miguel looked back at all of us with a grin that doubled my need to break his nose.

"Any of you coming with me?" he asked, before heading down.

Gabriel was the first to step forward. He surprised me by doing it, hesitating at the entrance long enough to look back at me. I didn't like the idea of him going down there alone, with only Miguel for backup. The dumbass was likely to do something stupid, then try to pin it on him. Nicole followed, but didn't try to stop me. O-Ren was the only voice of reason, proved to be the strangest part of the night up to that point. The irony was not lost on me, or her I think, either.

"Guys," she whispered nervously. Almost nothing frightened that girl! "Jeff is still asleep in the living room. Superhero or not, I'm fairly certain he won't be happy to wake up and find out we went exploring in his house!"

O-Ren eyed the passage suspiciously for a second. "Especially in a place he clearly didn't want anyone going into!"

"We don't know he built the passageway," I pointed out, then kept on going. "For all we know, this has been here since the house was built, and Jeff didn't know about it."

O-Ren waited at the mouth of the passage for almost a full minute. By the time she came down after us, Nicole and I had reached the landing where the stairs opened up into what looked like a multi-roomed basement. In retrospect, I would have liked to believe that Jeff really hadn't know what was down there. The house was very old, after all. Different people had been living here since it was built decades ago. Jeff was our friend, and a pretty cool guy! He let us hang out at his place free of charge while he slept on the couch. He didn't treat us like we belonged in Hell just for the crime of being young. He acted like a big kid himself half the time, and resorted to adulthood only when necessary.

The bodies were too fresh to have been there for years, though. There were things in that basement I would have nightmares about for the rest of my life. I still wake up screaming, covered in a cold sweat because of what we all saw that night. There were so many... parts!

And that was just the beginning!

For all of us...


	2. Southern Comforts: One Wild Night

Runaways:

Southern Comforts

Chapter 2

One Wild Night

by Ri-kun

How is one supposed to react when they learn the youth minister is a serial killer, and worse? They never covered this in those edification classes my mom made me take growing up, so this was really outside my territory.

The fresher bodies looked as if they could have belonged to people our age, or maybe even younger. I must have puked a dozen times or so before my head began to clear. My brain just wasn't doing that great a job of processing what was all around us. Thankfully, I wasn't the only one. Nicole had been crying for several minutes now. O-Ren had her arms around her, providing comfort, but she too was sobbing quietly right alongside. I would like to have done something real manly and chivalrous, but my stomach hadn't finished reviewing what I'd eaten that day.

Miguel wasn't doing any better than me, but this really wasn't the time to poke fun. The whole room was a scene right out of Hell; there just wasn't a different way to describe it. And each time I remembered what awaited me the moment I raised up, my intestines heaved again. I was getting sick of this, pun intended!

The only one among us with man parts that hadn't lost his lunch yet was Gabriel. I had to give my buddy credit; he was holding his own. Small though in stature, he'd definitely proved his ownage of a pair in that moment where I was concerned. His face was even paler than usual, and the skinny frame that stood near one of the mutilated corpses radiated a painful desperation. I almost went over and threw my arms around him, but then remembered section twelve of the Man Bylaws.

Joking was the only way I could make myself function right then.

"Lets..." I gasped, trying to keep my voice somewhat steady. "Let's just... get the fuck outta here!"

Silence for a moment. "I'm with you," O-Ren spoke then, giving Nicole a shake. "Are you okay, honey?"

Nicole raised up, and I saw that her face was dry. Her face had swollen to the point that she was almost unrecognizable, but she wasn't crying anymore. That made me straighten my back and stand all the way up.

"Good," I told her, trying to sound gentle. My brain was screaming at me to hurry and run, but I was determined that I'd be as calm as possible for her sake.

"We'll go back upstairs," I continued. "And ask Jeff..."

"Why he's been keeping butchered human corpses in his basement?" Miguel finished, sharply. "What the hell kind of freak is he?!"

"Let's just go, Miguel," Nicole whispered audibly. "We'll worry about everything else later. For now..."

Nicole stopped talking suddenly, and whirled around. At the same time, the wall behind her gave way a little, and side to the side. A red square glowed in the spot where her hand had been just a second ago. O-Ren stared at the new doorway for a second, then backed off.

"No way!" she swore, holding her hands up. "No freakin' way! I don't even wanna guess what other skeletons are in Jeff's closet!"

"What's in there?" Miguel asked cautiously, as Nicole stuck her head in. "It's not more dead people, is it?"

I really did not want to go in there, but the instatable crush inside me that'd been lusting for so long spoke volumes at that moment. Against my better judgement, I found myself walking, albeit slowly, over to where she'd just left. Before I'd gotten halfway there, though, she stuck her head back out.

"No bodies!" she said quickly. "But, you guys need to come see this. It's... weird!"

"Weirder than this?!" Miguel asked incredulously. I had to agree with him privately, but since Nicole had said there were no bodies, I walked ahead of everyone else. Gabriel came up just behind me, just as quiet as before. I wanted to know what his secret was, but then we were on the other side. What we saw there really was weirder!

"It's like, some sort of museum!" Nicole said, gesturing around at everything.

And it really did! This area was a hell of a lot bigger than the meat locker we'd just walked out of. There were statues and carvings all over the place. The walls were layered over with paintings that looked centuries old. Most of it should have come over from another country, but a lot of it I didn't recognize. And history was one of my better subjects!

"Look at this," Nicole indicated to no one in particular.

I walked over to where she stood, and saw she was holding up a small, round object with a clear glass center. It was cylindral in shape, but one end was larger than the other. There was a sign hanging next to the platform where she'd picked it up from.

_'Psychic Spyglass'_, it read. '_Hold up to the left eye and watch your friend's aura change colors based on their mood. Circa 1889 New England Empire_.'

"I never knew they hand this sort of thing back then," I remarked, feeling somewhat stupid given the situation.

"I don't think they did," she whispered. "There never was a New England Empire, at least that I've heard of. I wonder what else there is here."

_"'Thamaturgical Ink Pen'" _she read aloud. "'_Write messages on paper that are magickally transmitted to the person in question. Only they can read it! Caution: Receiver must be someone you know, or at least have seen a picture of. Circa 1944, Old Japan Kingdom.'_"

_'Thieves Blade. Press to any lock and watch the liquid metal fit in seconds. Outlawed in 2017 after infamous Billy Idol, Jr. incident!'_

_'Seer's Ring. Decode secret messages and encrypted script. Banned in South Africa from 1976--2001! Usage may turn skin green.'_

_'Gravity Magnet Boots. Dance on the ceiling in style! Must have license to operate following 2193.'_

"He's a time traveller!" Miguel cried out, making all of us jump. "No, serious! I've read all about this sort of thing online. There really are people who travel between time lines and visit alternate futures and stuff. We need to look for either a telephone booth, a car that resembles an old Model-T Ford, or a big blue Police Box!"

O-Ren shook her head sadly. "You spend way to much time watching the BBC America!"

"Jeff's an evil time travelling serial killer," he insisted. "I'm sure of it!"

"Just like ten minutes ago, when he was a relocated superhero working undercover? I think we need to get out of here!"

"Best idea I've heard all night," I agreed. "Let's hurry up before Jeff finds us."

"Too late!" Gabriel whispered.

The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs made my blood freeze up. Each of us looked to the other for a plan, but it was Nicole who began sweeping things up into a bag. She then seized me by the arm, and dragged all of us over to a corner next to a statue of what looked like Ed McMahon dressed as Buddah. Nicole was fighting to squeeze a watch-looking device on her wrist as the shadow of Jeff passed over the entrance to the room. Just as I thought we were all doomed, I saw Nicole press a button on the watch's side, and the world exploded in a brilliant flash of green light.

The next thing I knew, we were all landing in soft, wet grass. It was dark outside, and my insides felt as though they were fighting a battle royal against one another. It literally felt like I'd been turned inside out! I thought I'd thrown up everything in me that night, but apparently I was mistaken.

No one else was puking, but they didn't look all that great. Nicole raised up first, and helped pick me up off the ground. I tried to get an idea of where we were, but it was very dark, and my eyes were still swimming with unshed tears. Lucky for me, she went over to check on O-Ren and the others.

"What..." O-Ren stammered, getting to her feet. "What the hell was that?!"

"Teleportation watch!" Nicole gasped, moving over to Gabriel. "At least, that was what it said on the display case. It seemed like the best way for us to get out of there alive!"

"That's a matter of opinion," Miguel grumbled. "So, where did you teleport us to?"

"No idea," she reluctantly admitted. "The watch was already pre-set. I just pushed the button and prayed it would take us out of there! I don't think we're very far from Jeff's house, though."

"Marvellous!"

I was getting real sick of Miguel's attitude, but Nicole was leading O-Ren and Gabriel up the hill. I followed, and saw we were not far away from the main highway. Jeff's house was indeed not far from him.

"I guess Jeff must've set the watch in case he needed to make a quick getaway," she mused, looking over at me.

"Must have." My head was clearing a little, but I was still reeling from what we'd seen.

"What do we do now?" Gabriel asked, looking between Nicole and myself.

I wished then that I had an answer for him. No one else seemed to have any great ideas, either.

"We go home," Nicole said finally. "At least for now. Tomorrow, after school, I'll show my parents what we took from Jeff's house. It'll be good to have something along that'll prove our story. If we all go together, they should believe us."

"Is that why you took that stuff?" I asked, pointing.

Nicole nodded. "There wasn't time to get anything from the other room, and I really didn't want to touch... you know."

I did know. "Right," I said. "So, I'll see you guys tomorrow at school?"

It took me a minute to realize that none of us had a way of getting home. Jeff usually drove us when the night was over; we would have been piling into his SUV right about now, going from one house to the next. Without him, we were stranded on the side of the road.

Nicole, meanwhile, had pulled out her phone and was dialing a number one-handed. I watched as she spoke for several seconds with what sounded like a computerized voice, then hung up. "Taxi cab service," she explained, putting her phone back. "I don't have enough cash to get us all home. Can you guys make it back on your own if the driver takes us to the mall?"

Miguel was the only one who really complained, but I was getting used to the sound of it by now. It was strangely comforting to hear something normal after what we all just experienced together. I'd always read that living through something horrifying brings people closer together. At the moment, the only thing going through my mind was how much I wanted to get away from everybody. It was as if some part of me had been corrupted by what I'd seen. I hated myself for it, but I wanted to go home more.

The cab showed up about twenty minutes or so later. I was beginning to feel cold standing out in the damp air, but no one else had said anything yet. I wasn't about to be the first to complain; that was Miguel's job! We all rode in equal silence, acting as if everything was perfectly fine. I wanted to scream the whole time, but didn't. If I started screaming, I don't think I would have stopped. When the driver pulled into the mall parking lot, Nicole paid him and got out first. No one was really sure what to say, so I stepped forward.

"Tomorrow," I said firmly, hoping my voice really wasn't warbling as badly as it sounded. "We go to Nicole's parents, and we tell them what we saw. If they don't believe us, I'll talk to my mom and dad. Convincing them will be easier if we show them the bag, so be sure to bring it with you, Nicole."

"My parents will believe us!" she said, sounding oddly calm. "You should tell your parents too, though."

"I won't be telling mine," O-Ren spoke up loudly. "No amount of proof would convince them of something like this."

"Mine either!" Miguel agreed.

"Tomorrow," I said again, trying to etch the word into my brain. "Tomorrow!"

We walked away from each other after that. I looked back several times to make sure everyone was still in sight of me. After this night, I would never want to be alone again! My mom would have to buy me a new nightlight, one that required halogen bulbs.

It was a long walk home for me, though not nearly as far if Nicole hadn't been able to afford the cab. I swore to myself then that I'd pay her back. I'd left my wallet in my desk drawer that evening with all my money in it. My mind stayed fixed on it to keep from thinking about anything else. The tree branches overhead were starting to take the shape of the corpses in Jeff's basement. My stomach gave a hard lurch, and I walked faster. This night was never going to end for me!

I did manage to make it home, a feat for which I deserved the world's biggest Cadbury Egg! My feet trudged up the steps to our three-story house. My parents had already gone to sleep, apparently, so I was left to slip in with my shoes off. My mom might have yelled at me, but I was in little danger overall. Joseph had been caught slipping in far later than it was now; the clock said it wasn't even midnight yet!

Once upstairs, I caught myself heading down the hallway towards the wrong room. Last year, when Joseph went away to college, I moved into his old bedroom. He'd bragged for years about his being larger than mine; the moment he was out the door, I claimed it as my own! My old bedroom was now empty save for a few boxes containing old childhood memories I had no need for anymore. Turning around, I made my way back to the doorway at the top of the stairs, where my room now was.

The only thing I wanted to do was sleep, yet I didn't feel tired. It really wasn't all that late, though I would have gone to bed by now to wake up for school, had things not turned out the way they did. The idea that Jeff was a monster capable of slaughtering people, and then leaving them butchered in a hidden basement sounded laughable. Miguel's theory of him being a time traveller still hadn't registered with me. There had been all that junk in his basement, too...

Standing, I ran over to my closet and slid it open. My old Dance Dance Revolution mats were in here, but I hadn't used them since the arcade at the mall got their own machine in. It'd been a while since I played by myself at home. Tonight seemed as good as any to drag them out, and if this didn't tire me out enough to where I could sleep, nothing would!

The mats were the kind they made way back when the game was first getting popular; flimsy and easy to slip on. I had apparently tossed them farther back in the closet than I realized, which meant me crawling on my hands and knees to get to them. As I did, my head banged up against something hard to my right. Rubbing the spot and cursing up a storm, I gave thanks that mom couldn't hear me, and gave a look at what I'd bumped against.

It was a piece of wood sticking out oddly from the wall. A low-hanging jacket that'd belonged to Joseph before he left kept it covered, which was why I never noticed it before. The jacket had been a gift from one of dad's business friends, and looked incredibly ugly. Come to think of it, I couldn't remember ever seeing Joseph wear it before!

Curious, I gave the little piece of wood a jiggle, and it immediately slid up into the wall. At once, the back of the closet directly in front of me slid forward an inch or so, then off to the left. A secret compartment lay open in front of me all at once. My heart was pounding irregularly as I leaned up a little to peer inside. Thankfully, it wasn't all that big, which helped to reassure me that I was simply being paranoid. There were probably lots of houses in Meridian that held secret passages here and there. Apparently, mine was one of them!

Even if my crazy theory was true, I doubt other people's secret passages had what mine did! I had to move everything out of the way, and pull my clothes all the way over to the other side to get a good look. Even then, it took me a moment to figure out what I was staring at.

It resembled some kind of hi-tech ninja outfit I'd seen in a movie once. My very first girlfriend, whom I learned was cheating on me a month later, had insisted we go and see _Ninja Robo-Assassin 4_. It was an alright movie, but I wasn't that big a fan of Hugh Jackson. Now, one of the props was staring me right in the face from my closet!

I couldn't resist taking it out for a quick look-see. The material felt like leather, but it was softer and firmer all at the same time. Joseph had tailored the suit to fit his size, but that didn't stop me from trying it on. The moment I pulled the pants over my skin, something really strange started happening. It was like the material was shrinking down to fit right over my skin. I put the other leg in slowly and pulled the pants up. They went to being a little loose on me, to being almost too tight in about three seconds!

The rest of the costume did the same thing. My mind fought against it, but I was beginning to worry that I hadn't stumbled onto a secret-but-harmless obsession that my older brother had tried desperately to keep hidden. There was a small bo staff sticking out of a slot hanging crossways from my spine. I was actually pretty damn good with one, having spent several years of my life training with different karate instructors. The staff was my favorite weapon of choice, even though Joseph could still beat me with it! I pulled it loose and examined it carefully.

It hadn't been in my hand five seconds, when my finger slid over a switch built into the side. The staff went from being about a meter long to roughly ten feet in the blink of an eye! I almost dropped it, and fumbled for the button that would make it collapse again. Instead, I made the damn thing even longer! My room wasn't big enough to handle something that long; plus, most of my anime posters were in serious danger of being torn to bits! Finally, I located the switch and collapsed it back to it's original shape.

Something cold slid over me as I examined the staff once more. Joseph had always hated anime; he'd made it a point to make fun of me at least once a week for watching it instead of doing something more constructive, like getting laid. He wasn't the sort to collect figurines and cosplay outfits, either. My room was filled to the brim with them, on the other hand. I'd have loved to have something like this a few years back. Seeing it now, in the room that once belonged to my older brother, my mind began putting together a very ugly picture. I wasn't sure what it meant, even after several long minutes of contemplation. Two secret panels in the same night, however, was too much of a coincidence.

And I'd never believed in coincidences, anyway!

For the next several hours, I paced constantly in a circle downstairs in the living room. The ninja uniform still clung to my body in several uncomfortable places, but I hadn't bothered taking it off yet. Wearing somehow made the thoughts I kept having more real. And for some reason, keeping them tangable was very important to me. I couldn't figure out why; the only thing stopping me from going upstairs, throwing the damn thing back in the closet, and going to bed was my overactive imagination.

That, and the nagging feeling that I would be denying something very obvious.

Finally, I made myself stop wearing a track in the carpet, and thought long and hard about what was happening. The only place in the whole house I'd never been allowed to go as a kid was my dad's study. I didn't want to go in there now, for fear of what I could find. I didn't want to know if my parents had secrets. In my world, they were perfectly normal and incredibly cool people that just about everyone else my age would want to trade for. Jeff had been a good friend, in spite of the age difference. Seeing what we saw in the basement had destroyed that in one fatal swoop, leaving behind a very black gaping hole that just wouldn't close up.

I didn't want to know what my parents might be keeping from me. Of course, there was also the possibility that this was just something Joseph alone had been a part of. I still wasn't sure what 'it' might be, and hadn't explored the thought beyond that much. If Joseph was mixed up in something awful and secretive, that was just fine with me. So long as the rest of my family didn't participate, I could live with it! I could go right up those stairs and sleep just fine.

But not...

But not until I knew for sure.

Doing this felt like an extreme form of self-abuse; the bad kind, I mean! I really couldn't explain what made me head to the back of the house where my father's study was kept tucked away. My only excuse was that the whole of my existence had been shattered. One betrayal had been bad enough, but the hint that there were skeletons in my own family's closet gnawed at what remained of my insides like a rabid beaver! I needed proof then and there that things hadn't changed too much. I wanted to know that my parents would believe me in the morning when I woke up and told them about what we found. I wanted clear evidence that they weren't somehow mixed up in it!

I wanted...

I wanted my goddamn brain to shut the hell up for a minute!

My dad's study looked pretty typical. He never kept it locked, since we all knew not to disturb him when he was in there with the door shut. It felt strange to me, being in there, like I should turn around and run out. I almost did, but resisted and shut the door quietly behind me. It still sounded way to loud, but nothing from upstairs suggested that they heard me. Plus, my parents slept on the third floor, on the opposite side of the house.

I stood there for the longest time, looking around and wondering where to start. It didn't look like there was enough space to have any kind of secret passage or compartment. Almost every square inch of wall was blocked by something. The room really wasn't all that large; I think my dad told me once that it'd originally been a storage room before he converted it. And besides that, I was starting to feel very stupid about this whole thing.

My parents weren't serial killers. They weren't a part of whatever sick, twisted hobby Jeff had been involved in, and more than likely, neither was my older brother. I was letting my mind run away with me, making up complicated conspiracies like Miguel constantly did. Although, the uniform in my brother's closet was pretty strange. So was the secret panel it had been hidden in, but I told myself that mom or dad one would be able to explain it in the morning.

As I marched purposely back down the hallway, my foot tripped over something lying near the side of the wall. I was turning into a real klutz, and nearly screamed aloud a very nasty swear word that would have assuredly reached my mother's ears, no matter how many floors above me she was! As it were, I managed to break the head off of this stupid monkey statue that was resting on a small table setting near the mouth of the hall. Seeing what I'd done, I sighed and stood up to survey the damage. Our house was full of old antiques that dad bought when he was stationed in Japan for several years. This one was holding a staff similar to the one strapped on my back, and riding on a thick cloud. As I looked closer, the dim light revealed that the head hadn't been broken off at all.

It was flipped back, showing a single red button that glowed in the dark.

I waited about two seconds, then jabbed a thumb against it. Another passage opened, this one just to the right of the statue in front of me. Sure enough, there was a set of stairs behind it, these spiral and much more elaborate.

_At least_, I thought to myself, heading down them. _ If my parents are killers, they have great taste!_

It wasn't much comfort, but I was willing to take what I could get at that point. The staircase led down to an expansive room far below, one that had a very high ceiling and automatic lights. The room, once my eyes adjusted, was covered in the kind of mats they use in the Olympics; the type that people fight on. There were all sorts of weapons hanging from the walls, just like what you'd see in a kung fu movie. Across the room in front of me was a hallway.

I was praying the entire time I walked across the room to that hallway; praying that my parents were really just leading secret double-lives as Hollywood movie producers. Or, at this point, even actors! Just like Mel Gibson's kids!

There was no way I could have mistaken where we lived for Australia, though, or mistake what I saw farther in. There were more weapons, and these hadn't been crafted centuries ago in the mysterious far east. They were the sort of stuff that army surplus stores couldn't get their hands on! It looked like my parents were getting ready to fight a war with all the guns, explosives, and grenade launchers stacked one on top of the other. Some of it looked a bit precarious, too. It took all my resolve just to keep from running out the room; there was too great a risk that I'd blow myself up knocking something off.

At least O-Ren would have seen the humor in it.

The last room was the worst. There weren't any dead bodies lying around haphazardly in a Saw trilogy fashion, at least. I didn't see any blood on the walls, and there weren't any stuffed body parts hanging from the ceiling. The only thing that really occupied the room was computer screens. There was a single chair resting in front of the biggest one, and it felt like someone had been sitting in it recently. The leather was still warm.

What was on the screens made my blood run cold, though. It was all going by very fast, so I only caught bits and pieces. I kept telling myself that this was all just a big misunderstanding, that any second my mom would be behind me, wondering what I was doing up so late on a school night. Dad would take me into the kitchen for milk and cookies like he used to do when I was a kid. They'd explain all of this to me, then I could tell them about the horrible things I'd seen in Jeff's basement. They'd both be mortified, of course, but neither of them would blame me. Mom would give me a hug, while dad phoned for the police. He'd always gotten along really well with the police, I remembered suddenly.

Mom would tell me... how brave I was...

Neither one of them came, but the words on the computer screens kept right on going. None of it stopped, not even when I tore myself away and fell down on the rug sobbing. My whole world crumbled around me at that moment. I couldn't make any of it stop, anymore than I could make the truth less real.

At least I couldn't throw up again. My insides were too hollow!


	3. Southern Comforts: Say It Isn't So

Runaways:

Southern Comforts

Chapter 3

Say It Isn't So

by Ri-kun

O-Ren was with me, and we were running for our lives. I kept telling myself that none of this was my fault, and hoping the mantra would somehow transmit itself into her brain via a secret ninja mind meld trick I wasn't certain I posessed yet. The fire, meanwhile, was spreading very quickly. I was still having a lot of trouble handling the gloves. Whatever they were, the flames coming from them packed quite the punch!

I was still wearing the shozoku that'd been hidden in my closet. Even though it hadn't been on me long, the fabric was starting to reek. I must have sweated off at least twenty pounds through the force of sheer adrenaline! There was no other explaination.

O-Ren, on the other hand, was yelling at the top of her lungs, screaming about a big mess that I'd apparently caused and how this was all my fault. I hadn't really expected the whole ninja mind meld to work at any rate. The scroll still tucked up underneath my arm had been written in some weird kind of sanscrit. I couldn't make any of it out, which meant learning that I was the offspring of a secret clan of ninja thieves wasn't paying out in perks just yet!

That was what I'd gathered from my parents' forbidden basement of dark secrets. It still sounded weird in my head, though some part of me had reeled with excitement upon my initial discovery. It sounded terrible now, but what otaku doesn't dream of learning something like this?

Of course, the murder and drug trafficing caused much of my enthusiasm to die down very quickly. That was what had been on all those computer screens; they were recording and saving data on what I guessed was just about every illegal activity going on for about a thousand mile radius. I'd tried taking a page out of Miguel's book in the beginning; hoping against hope that I was just misunderstood. Superheroes, after all, had to keep places like this with all sorts of technical equipment. My parents could have always been superheroes in disguise and I hadn't realized it.

Even before I found the room with all the coffee grounds, it sounded weak to me!

I had spent a good bit of time sobbing in the hallway. You will never hear me admit that again, so just absorb it up and let it evaporate from your heads, okay? I had always gotten along with my mother and father. My dad was just about the coolest man on the face of the planet. My mom always did her best to look after me. She could be a little overbearing sometimes, but I'd always known I was lucky. They'd been the ones to teach me right from wrong, and make sure I understood the consequences of my actions. Seeing proof positive that everything they'd said was a lie shook me a little bit. So, I was allowed!

I didn't sleep in my room that night. Once my wimp fit was over and done with, I stood up and got the hell outta there! But, not before I snatched up the scroll and gloves that'd been on the cushion behind the glass display. Don't ask me why I did this; I was a little distraught then. It had seemed like the right thing to do, though. The gloves fit my hands like...

Well, gloves!

It wasn't until just a little while ago that I learned they could belch fire like nobody's business! I took my car over to O-Ren's house and got her to open her bedroom window. It felt like a good twenty minutes before she woke up. In all those movies where this sort of thing happens, I never heard a girl snore so loud! O-Ren acted like she wasn't going to let me in at first. I think the outfit put her off a little, but ironically, it also helped convince her I was telling the truth.

"You wouldn't have the balls to go out in public wearing something like that!" she'd stated, pointing. "Not even if everyone else did it before you!"

She and I had to be very quiet. O-Ren's parents weren't such light sleepers, plus she seemed very uncomfortable with the idea of them waking up and finding a boy in her room. I didn't think the ninja outfit would help much either, personally. So, it went without saying that I tried to not give her a hard time. This proved easier said than done, because even though O-Ren seemed to believe my story, she still wasn't thrilled about the idea of helping me.

"You were there when we found Jeff's..." I faltered for a second, thinking about what exactly had been down there. "You were there in Jeff's basement. You've just gotta help me out!"

"Why?" she insisted, keeping herself covered with her bedsheets. "So, your father is a weirdo who likes to pretend he's really japanese. Seems like the apple didn't fall far off the tree on that one!"

"I don't know how this is connected to what Jeff is doing. It's just... a feeling I have."

"Well, I have the feeling that we all need to wake up in the morning to be ready for school!" O-Ren shot, rolling over in her bed to face the wall. "Has that been bugging you, too?"

"No, I'm pretty sure I couldn't sleep even if I wanted to."

"That makes one of us!" O-Ren finally turned back to face me. Her eyes looked scared, rather than furious. I suddenly had a sneaky suspicious as to why she was being so difficult about this.

"Did something strange happen to you tonight?" I pressed, meeting her eyes unflinchingly.

O-Ren wouldn't look at my face. "It was nothing, really..." she began, almost hesitantly. "When I got home, both of my parents were in the basement. Normally, at least one of them is awake to yell at me about staying out too late. No matter what time I come home from Anime Night, they always bitch. I didn't see either of them, though, and there was a lot of weird noises coming from our garage! Sounds I'd never heard before."

My eyes narrowed at her. "But that's all!" she insisted, rolling over once more. "Now, would you please leave so I can go back to bed?"

"You're already in bed," I pointed out, standing up to leave.

"That's a minor formality. Hey, where're you going?!"

"To your parents' garage, of course." I waited about opening the door for just a second. "I'm curious to know what they were doing in there tonight. If my parents are mixed up in something, then yours..."

"My parents," O-Ren hissed, still not looking in my direction. "Are _not_ mixed up in anything! Whatever sick, demented, dark secrets you've managed to unearth about your own homelife, keep them to yourself. I don't want to hear about it!"

"Hai," I said, nodding.

"And you're not japanese!" she yelled, as I made my way out the door.

"Wait!"

"Nani?"

"I said, you aren't japanese, so stop talking like that!" O-Ren had finally raised up, and was glowering at me. "Where are you going? My parents are still asleep!"

"Downstairs to the garage, like I said before. I still wanna see what your parents were doing! Besides, that's the easiest way out of here."

"You can't go snooping around my folks' home! What if somebody sees you? And plus, can't you just use the window like you climbed up here?"

"Don't worry!" I assured her, liking the way this was bothering her for some reason. "I'm supposed to be a ninja, it seems. We're known for being very sneaky and quiet. No noe will ever know I was here!"

"Famous last words," O-Ren grumbled, getting to her feet. "This from the guy who couldn't play basketball because his shoelaces wouldn't stay tied!"

"I didn't like basketball," I replied defensively, keeping my eyes to the wall as she dressed. "And my shoelaces are evil! If you had shoelaces like this, you wouldn't feel safe playing basketball with juniors either!"

"Evil shoelaces," O-Ren muttered, pulling her pants up. "I guess that makes sense, considering you come from an evil ninja clan! Why did you chose me, by the way? What reason was there to come and wake me up with stories about thieving ninja drug pushers and secret closets?"

"Your house was closer," I said, shrugging. I really couldn't remember why I picked O-Ren to come to first; I'd been running on instinct for some time by that point. I was also really hoping that O-Ren would let the topic drop.

She didn't. "What about Gabriel?" she pointed out, thoughtfully. "Or, for that matter, what about Nicole? I know you have a crush on her!"

"I do not!" I nearly shouted. As it were, O-Ren's father gave a really loud snort before turning over and going back to sleep. She was giving me a really nasty look the entire time we made our way back down the stairs.

"Ninja silence," she muttered, irritably. "So much for that, huh? I guess you really can't believe everything you read!"

I didn't answer her, but kept on going towards what I thought was the garage. Unfortunately, I'd never been to O-Ren's house before, so I didn't exactly know my way around. O-Ren wound up grabbing me by the arm more than once to jerk me hard in the other direction.

"Understand something," she told me, once we were standing at the door to her parents' garage. "I'm only helping you to prove that your theory is completely ridiculous. And, to keep you from stumbling all over the place and waking my rents up! Whatever is going on here, my folks aren't involved."

"How can you be sure?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Simple. Neither of them is smart enough to be a part of some grand conspiracy! They're always telling me that my theories on who control the government are pointless and a waste of intellectual energy."

"Oh," I muttered, pushing the door in. "Well, that makes sense."

What we saw in there was pretty bad. Again, no chopped up corpses, which was a big relief. What we found in there was still shocking, to say the least. It turned out that I was right after all.

Or, rather, I was sure I'd been. O-Ren, on the other hand, was suffering from a major case of denial!

"This is some kind of practical joke!" she insisted, as we spend out of her driveway. "You guys planned all this together just to get a good laugh out of me!"

"What?" I stared at her, nearly backing into a chevy parallel parked on the other side of the street. "Why would we do that?!"

"You guys all have a sick sense of humor. Plus, I happen to know for a fact that none of you like me! You all secretly think I'm some kind of freak for being a proclaimed atheist, which is just typical of this whole stupid town. Unless everyone thinks and believes the exact same way, something is wrong. I should've seen this coming for a long time now! You know, I bet this isn't a prank after all. It's probably some kind of elaborate trap to brainwash me!"

I needed to keep my eyes on the road, but the urge to stare at her was overwhelming. "O-Ren," I spoke slowly, as if talking to a four year old. "Your parents had booby trapped the garage. We nearly died in there!"

"It's to keep burglars out!" she shrilled, crossing her arms defiantly.

"They had infa-red lasers all over the place! When I tripped one, it released a poisonous gas into the room! What kind of messed up security system is that, huh?"

"Apparently, a very good one! It got rid of you, didn't it? Also, I deeply resent being kidnapped and dragged out of my house this late at night! If my parents find out and ground me, I'm telling them it was entirely your fault!"

"How do you think they'll handle me, then?" I snapped, getting angry. "Send another killer robot on us both?"

"That was..." she faltered. "They probably bought it on eBay! For... asthetic value!"

"I nearly died fighting that damn thing off of us!" O-Ren was going to great steps by this point to prove she didn't believe me.

"More like you got smacked around for two minutes, before picking yourself up and running like a little girl!"

I wanted to smack that smug grin off her face, but resisted. Even in circumstances like this, I didn't believe in hitting girls. It was something O-Ren and I had argued about once before during a study hall. She kept bringing up wild examples of cheerleaders armed with bazookas and nunchuku. At this moment, I was tempted to test just how far her beliefs ran!

But, of course, she wasn't armed.

"Nice trick with those gloves of yours," she said quietly, after a moment. "How do they work?"

"I'm... really not sure. I found them in my parents' basement, along with this really weird scroll that's written in a different language. I brought it along with me, hoping it might explain some of what's happening."

"If there hadn't been extinguishing fog wired in the ceiling, you might have burned down the whole house. Funny how that stuff caused the robot to short out like that all of a sudden."

"So," O-Ren added, after a moment's silence. "Where are we going?"

I froze. "I don't know," I mumbled, weakly. "I really hadn't thought that far ahead."

"Turn up ahead," she pointed, as a right turn came up on us. I swerved, just barely making it, and a flash of red and blue lights came up behind us.

"Great!" I swore. "What do they want? I haven't been speeding!"

"You were doing seventy-two in a forty-five zone," O-Ren corrected, pointing to the speedometer. "For the last ten minutes or so."

"Oh..." I started to slow the car down, and pull it over to the curb. "At least a ticket isn't the worst thing that can happen anymore."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that!" O-Ren had raised up and was looking at the rear-view mirror. "I'm counting about six or so squad cars back there. And they all look like they're armed to the teeth!"

My blood ran cold. I wasn't entire sure what all was going on, but somewhere in the back of my mind, a hunch was beginning to form. I hadn't killed the engine yet; my right foot was still perched over the gas pedal. O-Ren saw what I was getting ready to do, and immediately shook her head.

Then, the cops were all around us.

"Step out of the vehicle, please!" I noticed he had a gun pointed at us, and so did the rest of the officers standing with him. This was so not about me speeding through a residential zone!

O-Ren had her hands raised up where they could see them, but I hadn't taken mine off the steering wheel just yet. She was glaring over at me, and gesturing that I should do the same. Truthfully, I was beginning to feel bad about dragging her into this. Of course, in a way, she was already involved in...

Whatever this was!

"Step out of the car!" the cop asked again, less nicely.

I took my hands off the wheel and raised them where the nice policemen with guns pointed at us could see. Together, O-Ren and I climbed out of the car and waited while a couple of guys padded us both down. A couple of them looked like they were really enjoying themselves with O-Ren, but she hadn't broken their arms yet. The officer wearing a deputy badge strutted up to me and looked down like he was having a lot of fun. At that moment, I considered incenerating him with the gloves, but resisted. There was too good a chance that I'd wind up blowing all of us up, what with so many cars around. And I sure as hell wasn't about to risk nuking mine!

"You two acted like you were in a real big hurry," he commented, with a very thick southern drawl. "Care to tell us where you were going, son?"

"We were... on our way to my house," I grasped. I was never a very good liar!

"Oh, I seriously doubt that," the cop replied, shaking his head. "Seems to me the two of you have gotten yourselves into some serious trouble. 'Fraid I'm gonna have to take you both in, son."

"You're taking us to jail?!" O-Ren cried out, sounding panicked.

The deputy grinned, and I didn't like the glint in his eye. "No, little lady. After the stunts you've pulled tonight, there's only one place we're allowed to send either of you at this particular point!"

"Where's that?" Dad had taught me years ago to never show fear in front of a cop. I wasn't about to forget something like that now, regardless of what my folks might have been hiding from me.

"Hell, son!" the cop sneered, grabbing me by the shoulder. "We're taking you both to Hell!"

Hell, as it turned out, was the Second Baptist Church that everyone in Anime Night attended. Every squad car that'd pulled us over followed us over there, lights blaring and sirens off. O-Ren wasn't looking so well at this point, but she wouldn't speak to me when I asked if she was alright. When we got to the church, the rest of the cops stayed in their cars while the deputy took us both through the great double doors. He kept trying to hold me by the scruff of the neck, but I wouldn't let him. O-Ren was being cooperative for once, but I suspected her ignoring me was due to shock. It seemed she might finally be willing to believe me. I just hoped we'd both live long enough for me to tell her how sorry I was.

We were led through the sanctuary to the back, where Reverand Merryweather was waiting for us with Gabriel standing next to him. As I got closer, I could see that the good Reverand had Gabriel by a very firm grip. If looks could kill, the Reverand would have been dead by now, what with the glare Gab kept throwing him. I felt proud of him in that instance.

The Reverand didn't say anything when the deputy brought us through. He simply tightened his grip on Gabriel and dragged him along with us to his office at the end of the hallway. I caught a glimpse of his face as he was opening the door, though. He was shooting daggers back behind him when the deputy wasn't looking. Apparently, he wasn't happy with the cops being here. That got the wheels in my head turning as we were tossed into his office, but the moment I saw who was in there, all thoughts evaporated.

"Nicole?!" I gasped, staring. "Miguel? What are you two doing here?"

"You tell us, man!" Miguel said, looking angry. "When we got home, my mom was asking all these questions about why Jeff didn't drop us off. She got really upset when I told her about him falling asleep and us calling for a cab, then she sent me up to my room! A few hours later, I get dragged out of bed by my dad, who keeps asking me where the two of you are! They said the cops were out looking for you, but neither my mom or dad would say why. Then they brought me here, and told me to wait with Nicole. I tried the door several times; it was locked from the outside!"

"We were both really worried," Nicole spoke up. "Are you two really okay? What's happening!?"

I looked first over to O-Ren, who was making a point of not facing me. Gabriel met my eyes, and I could tell by the expression in them that he'd endured a similar night. What surprised me was the level of anger in them. I'd never seen Gab show such resolve before.

Turning to Nicole, I began relaying the entire story to them, first with my discovering the hidden compartment in the closet that had once been my older brother's, and ending with the cops finding us. O-Ren periodically threw in her own take on things, which managed to make me sound more incompetent. I was really getting sick of her at this point!

"So, how about you two?" I ended, looking back and forth from Nicole to Gabriel. "How did you guys wind up here?"

"My stepdad made me come," Gabriel whispered, barely audible. "He said if I didn't..."

"All of our parents made us," Nicole finished. "My mom acted like she really didn't want to come. I overheard she and my dad arguing before we left. Something about... It was nothing!"

"She said her parents mentioned your dad, Dan!" Miguel threw in, which earned him a look of pure fury from Nicole.

That didn't make me feel any better, but I was still glad Miguel said it. For once, his big mouth had done something right! "They also said something about O-Ren's parents," she went on, shifting uncomfortably. "And a meeting! I think all of our parents are meeting with one another right now."

"Where at?" Miguel wondered, scratching his head.

"Probably downstairs," Gabriel offered, looking shyly at each of us. "I heard some people moving around in there earlier, while my stepfather was keeping my locked up in the closet. Everyone's probably down there by now."

"What is it with our parents and basements?!" Miguel howled.

"Stop it!"

Everyone looked at O-Ren in surprise. "Listen to yourselves!" she growled, looking harried. "You're all seeing super-villians and elaborate conspiracies everywhere. This is exactly the sort of thing my parents used to warn me about! Now, I don't know about the rest of you, but my family isn't involved in some super-secret plan to... take over Meridian, or whatever the rest of you are thinking. I always said listening to the crap that came out from Miguel's head would drive the rest of us crazy, and now it has!"

"O-Ren..." Nicole said gently.

"You saw what was in your parents' garage," I began, hesitantly.

O-Ren didn't act like she'd heard me. "What?" Miguel broke in. "What'd the two of you find, exactly?"

"Killer robots and laser security systems," I answered over my shoulder. "There wasn't enough time to really search the place. It caught fire too quickly!"

"And who's fault was that, huh?!" O-Ren shrilled. "I'm being serious! Just listen to all of you!"

"O-Ren," Nicole said, in a much more firm voice this time. She gently took her friend by the shoulders and gripped them firmly. "Maybe some of our parents aren't involved in this. Your probably aren't, but you have to admit that there's something really strange going on here. The sooner we get to the bottom of it, the more things are likely to make sense."

"Then why doesn't somebody just tell us?" she whined, looking for all the world like she was ready to cry.

Nicole cocked an eyebrow at her. "Since when do you ever believe what your parents tell you?"

O-Ren got really irritated, but looked much better. "It serves me right for saying that."

Gabriel, meanwhile, was going through the Reverand's desk one drawer at a time. When all of them had been opened, he began rummaging through the bookshelves. Everyone turned to watch him curiously; I was beginning to think he'd lost his mind!

"What's up?" Miguel asked, breaking the silence first.

"My stepfather always keeps an extra set of keys in his office somewhere!" he explained, still searching desperately. "He used to complain about loosing his keys all the time, so my mom finally talked him into getting an extra set made. The door to this office is a really old lock, the kind you need a key to get in or out of... Got 'em!"

Gabriel held up a very big keychain, one that only had two different keys on it. At the same time he did this, his elbow brushed up against a rather heavy-looking book, which teetered on the high shelf for about half a second before falling on his head.

"Ow!" Gab moaned, looking down. "What the hell... what is this thing?"

We all gathered round to have a look; the book was bound in what appeared to be very old leather. There was a very distinct odor coming from it, however, that immediately reminded me of something dying. I plugged my nose as Gabriel picked it up. Miguel read the title over his shoulder.

"The Word of Mordo... Oh, Christ! We are in so much shit right now!"

I looked at him. "More so than we already are? How is that possible?"

Miguel took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "Baron Mordo... I really don't know much about him, but he used to fight Doctor Strange all the time. They've been mortal enemies for years now. He's this practicioner of Dark Magick. If that book has his name on it..."

"It's all written in Latin," Gabriel said, his head buried in it. He'd already opened the book up, and was now scanning the pages.

"Don't read any of that!" Miguel gasped, trying to seize it from his hands. "There's no telling what a spellbook like that could do!"

"But he just said it's in Latin," Nicole pointed out. "None of us here speak Latin."

"I do," Gab said quickly. "I started learning it as an elective back in sixth grade. It got me out of gym, so it wasn't too bad!"

"Oh..."

"What does some of it say?" O-Ren asked, leaning forward to see.

"No, don't!" Miguel insisted.

"Nothing bad is going to happen!" O-Ren said, insistently. "The only possible thing that could go wrong is we get a good laugh instead of unlocking the door and getting out of here like we should have five minutes ago! If Gabriel isn't going to hand over the keys, let him read something out of there!"

"Who knows," she added, almost as an afterthought. "The spell might turn out to give you superstrength, or something!"

Miguel considered that for a whole two and a half seconds. "Do it!"

Gabriel turned to the first page in the book. It had some kind of wood press done on the inside of the book cover. The smell was even worse now that he'd opened it up. The carving depicted a bunch of people writhing in pain on what looked like a very old and creepy-looking oak tree. A lot of them were missing limbs, and they didn't appear to be in the best of health. I was starting to agree with Miguel's initial assessment, but then Gabriel began to read.

_**In this, the darkest and most unholy hour of the world,**_

_**Let thy power consume me. Fill me with the power,**_

_**The power to bring life to the undeath that rot.**_

_**Bring to my thy emassary. The one who**_

_**Walks, but does not feed. The one who speaks,**_

_**Yet has no breath. Let him serve me now!**_

_**Let him come!**_

_**Let him come!**_

_**LET HIM COME, NOW!**_

Everyone looked at each other. There was silence in the room, except for the sound of people breathing.

"Not exactly a match for Edgar Allen Poe," O-Ren noted, grabbing the keys out of Gabriel's hands. "Let's just get out of here!"

"There's something else inside the book, too!" Gab said, holding up a small, black box. "I think it's... They're tarot cards!"

"Great!" O-Ren said snidely, holding the door open for us. "Maybe you'll be able to predict us all running for our lives!"

"Not yet," Nicole said very fast. "We still need to find our parents."

"What for?" Miguel wondered, looking at her like she was nuts.

"We need to find out what's going on," I said, standing next to her. "There's something going on here, something a hell of a lot bigger than just the youth minister hiding dead bodies in his basement. I'd love to hear what it was."

"You can if you want to," O-Ren said, tossing the keys back to her. "I'm leaving! My parents will probably ground me for the rest of my life. I don't want to do anything else that'll piss them off!"

And, with that, she was gone. "So much for the Fearless Rebel," Miguel noted, looking after her with distain.

"Are you two staying?" she asked him and Gabriel, together. "I intend to find my mom and dad and ask them what they know about all of this."

"I'm staying," Gabriel said firmly. He was still clutching the book in his hands tightly. "I'm staying with you guys, if that's alright."

"Fine!" Miguel nodded. "I will, too. Only, get rid of that creepy book, will you? It makes my skin crawl."

Gabriel didn't loosen his grip on it. "We might need it," he insisted. "I'd like to take it with us."

"We don't have time to argue!" Nicole said, pushing Miguel out of the way. "Let him take it with us. It's not hurting anything!"

"But..." Miguel stammered, trotting after the rest of us. "It's creepy!"

"So are you most of the time!" I told him, grinning.

In spite of the seriousness of the situation, we all laughed. The laughter died the moment we got to the basement staircase. I'd already endured enough horrible truths from places like these, but we'd all agreed to come here. If anyone was going down first, it had to be me. I stepped ahead of Nicole just enough to take the lead, drawing my bo staff out just in case.

The basement had been used at one point as a place to hold dinner meetings. When the church built the gym next to it, it apparently became obsolete. I don't think anyone had been down here in a very long time. There was an awful lot of dust, and Miguel and I both kept sneezing. Nicole was telling us to be quiet, but I couldn't help myself. At one point, I sneezed so hard that the bo staff went flying right out of my hands.

"Nice!" Miguel noted, pointing at where the staff stuck out from the wall. "What grace, especially for a self-proclaimed ninja!'

"I think he's found something," Gabriel pointed.

Gabriel walked over to the staff and pulled it loose. Looking through the hole, he motioned for all of us to come and look. I got there first, and took the staff away from him before peering through the hole in the wall. It'd become attached to me in the last several hours.

"He's right!" I whispered to Miguel and Nicole. "There's something behind this wall panel. Let me try and burn a way through!"

Nicole seized me at once. "Do that, and you'll send the whole building up in smoke! This church is over a hundred years old, Dan."

"Oh, right."

The panel suddenly slid on it's own to the left. I whirled around, staff at the ready, waiting for someone to come out and attack us. The only thing this served was to smack Miguel up side the head, and send him sprawling into Nicole and Gabriel. It seemed I needed a lot more practice with this thing. However, no one came out of the secret panel. Gabriel appeared to have found the switch needed to open it.

This time, Nicole took the lead, with me bringing up the rear. Now that the panel was open, we could all hear voices coming from up ahead. They sounded like the sort of thing you'd pick up in an old horror movie. Lots of moaning and chanting! Which meant I was probably not going to like whatever waited for us up ahead.

In recent years, I've gotten to where I hate being right.


	4. Southerrn Comforts: Bad Medicine

Runaways:

Southern Comforts

Chapter 4

Bad Medicine

by Ri-kun

There was a temple built under the church. Some part of me actually felt like I should've seen that one coming! With everything else we'd discovered, a hidden temple really wasn't so odd anymore. Which, I suppose, should have been a omen as to how strange our lives had gotten in the last twenty-four hours or so.

I wondered at first if this wasn't just a bad dream. Finding the temple didn't make me feel that way; seeing all of our parents inside it, however, did.

Gabriel's stepfather was down there, along with his mother and a bunch of cultists. You can always identify cultists by their robes, and the weird chanting they do. That was what I always believed, anyway, and it was proving true at the moment! My parents had come in full ninja gear, with a couple of flunkie ninjas standing on each side as a guard. Even after everything had happened, a part of me still felt it was cool that I had ninjas for parents! Nicole's mother and father had come by themselves, and were the most normal-looking of the whole group. They were also the ones who seemed the least happy to be there!

Well, them and the Wongs, who had several familiar robots armed to the teeth with weapons to watch their backs. I almost mistook one of Miguel's family members for one of them, the way they were dressed up. All the Wrights had on outfits that resembled knock-off space suits from Batttlestar Galactica!

Our parents were arguing with one another. Reverand Merryweather was standing off to the side, praying in front of a really big statue of some idol god with fire on his head. The way things were arranged reminded me a little bit of the Temple of Doom movie. The cultists that weren't standing with Mrs. Merryweather were kneeling behind the Reverand, mumbling under their breath while he held out an old jar before the statue.

I was getting a bad feeling about what was happening.

"I thought," the Wongs were saying, rather loudly. "That we'd agreed not to let our children know about the Pride until they came of age! How exactly is letting your son wander down to your security base an accident, Mr. Whittaker?"

"We're not sure how he found the switch," my mother was saying. She sounded pretty mad at the moment, and I suddenly had the urge to go back upstairs and wait for her. A part of me wanted to laugh at myself, but no one really knew better than me what mom could be like when she got angry! It wasn't pretty.

"From the way things looked in the hall," my dad went on. "It looks as if he could have stumbled on it by accident."

"Well, our daughter would have never come into the garage," Mrs. Wong threw at them. "Not without provocation. I think we all know where the blame for that lies."

"Blaming each other solves nothing!" Mrs. Merryweather cut in. "What we need to do is figure out how to resolve the situation. Perhaps the best thing to do after all is tell our children the truth?"

"Are you sure that's wise?" the principle, Nicole's dad, asked.

"We've taken great steps to ensure our daughter has a normal life. Revealing the truth to her now could be devistating!"

Mrs. Merryweather looked at Nicole's mother gravely. "If you have a better suggestion, Diane, I would love to hear it."

"Would all of you please be quiet!"

Reverand Merryweather had turned around, and was glaring at each of them with a furious expression. "I am only trying to appease one of the foulest beings in all of Creation! Lord Dormamu is not known for his patience, and opening a vortex to his home dimension is tricky, even with the powers I possess."

"Yes, dear!" his wife muttered. I actually think she was rolling her eyes underneath the cloak covering her head. "Please, go right ahead. We'll wait in the antechamber until you and the rest of the deacons are finished."

"Those are deacons?!" I wondered, aloud.

"Shhh!" Nicole hissed at me. "Quiet! If they hear us..."

"None of that's gonna matter if the Reverand does what I think he's about to do!" Miguel gulped, looking pale. "I'm pretty sure he just said Dormamu!"

"What?" I wondered. "Is that important?"

"What's he doing?" Gabriel asked in a very soft voice.

I looked back down, and saw the air near the statue ripple and spin. A dark red light was coming from the center of the space that appeared to be warping in front of our very eyes, and the stench of sulfur suddenly filled the room. Reverand Merryweather had opened the jar, and a silvery wisp began to emerge from it. The wisp took the form of a young girl, one that seemed vaguely familiar to me.

"That's Amy Howizer!" I heard Nicole gasped. "I sit next to her in third period English!"

"Someone told me she ran away from home last week," Gabriel whispered, somewhere near my ear. "No one's seen or heard from her in days!"

"Looks like we found where she'd gone to!" Miguel sounded like he was going to be sick. "I don't think I wanna watch what happens next."

I had a horrible suspicion myself, but kept my eyes focused on the scene unfolding in front of me. The vortex had begun to spout flames, and a great rumbling could be heard from deep inside it. The girl named Amy Howizer, who I now realized had a locker just across from mine, looked terrified as her soul was dragged ever closer. I started to get up, to do something to help her, but Nicole put a hand on me.

"Don't," she said, looking like she herself wanted to cry. "Don't! If you try anything, they'll know we're up here. There's nothing... nothing we can do for her now."

The soul of Amy Howizer was pulled up to the vortex. I watched as the rumbling grew deeper, almost hungry. Then, flames surged out from the center of it, seizing her in them. Amy gave a scream that couldn't be heard over the roar of flames, yet went through me nonetheless. I could still hear her long after the fire had died down, after the vortex closed up, and the smell of sulfur left the air. Her cries rang in my ear as the Reverand stood up with the rest of his hand-picked deacon board. As I watched them leave the room towards the antechamber where the rest of our parents had gone, an overwhelming urge to snap his neck in my bare hands filled me.

"Let's follow them," Nicole suggested.

"I don't see any other way of getting down there," Gabriel mused, looking over the banister. "Are you sure it's safe?"

"We'll wait until the rest of them leave to go down," said Nicole firmly, getting to her feet.

Most of the others had already wandered off to where we couldn't see. We all stood there for several minutes, feeling a little scared and all questioning whether it was safe yet to go. I really didn't want to stand still, not after what I'd just witnessed. I tried not to think about the fact that my parents had seen a part of it right along with me, and hadn't batted an eyelash. It didn't shock them one bit, knowing in advance what Gabriel's dad had been about to do. They'd just walked off like it was no big deal!

"They're gone now," Miguel told us, peering over the edge. "I think it's safe for us to follow them."

There was another set of spiral steps leading down, just off to the right of us. I went first again, but everyone was keeping very close. The silence that hung over our heads was ominous, and more than a little sobering. I think, up until that point, we'd all hoped against hope that this really had been a misunderstanding on our parts. I mean, you hear about it all the time, kids our age overhearing a part of some conversation adults are having; either that, or finding a letter that'd been torn in half, and jumping to the wrong conclusion. I didn't realize until then just how much I wanted this to be all my fault.

How much I'd wanted this to be because of something I'd done, or just heard wrong by accident, and that all of it would be okay in the end.

We all found the antechamber fairly easy. There weren't as many rooms in this place, unlike my own parents' fortress of doom, or whatever they called it. The main part of the temple with the Doorbell statue, or whatever Miguel had called it, was maybe half the size of the church sanctuary. I noticed Miguel gave the idol statue a great deal of berth. He genuinely appeared frightened by it!

I might not have liked him much in the past, but one thing was clear: Miguel was no coward! If that thing bothered him this much, there was probably a good reason behind it. I started manuveuring everyone farther away from it, taking the farthest path possible to the antechamber door. He looked really relieved at me once we put some distance between it.

The door was left open slightly, cracked just enough to let light in through. None of us dared stick our heads in, but we could hear the voices of our parents talking loudly. Miguel and I stood on the right side, where I could just make out a table. They were all sitting around it, talking animatedly at once. Gabriel had crouched down near the floor, and stuck his ear against the panel of wood. Nicole was leaning behind him, listening right along. I wished that I'd thought long enough to stand closer to her, but forced myself to keep my head in what was going on.

It wasn't easy, though.

"I hear crime in the city is down this month," the Reverand was saying, snidely. "Taking a break from the drug trade, Whittaker? What will the Externals think of that, I wonder?"

"Crime needed to come down for a while," I heard my dad tell him calmly. "It gives the cops a chance to recharge, and feel like they've actually accomplished something other than racking up donut tabs! Plus, my wife and I have been focusing our attentions on the south coast recently. You know how difficult it is to maintain balance in the drug trade there, what with the cajuns and all!"

"Crime could stand to be down for a bit," Miguel's mother replied, loftily. "I think we'd all like to be able to walk the streets a little a night. It just isn't safe to let my son out after dark anymore. Speaking of which, I knew letting him go to Jeff Palmer's house was a bad idea!"

"Where is the youth minister, anyway?" That was Mr. Wong, O-Ren's father, talking. "I wanted to have a word with him about leaving his basement door wide open! Shouldn't he be here with the rest of the Pride, seeing as how he remains a member?"

"I wouldn't mind seeing less of the time traveller!" O-Ren's mother sounded disgusted. "It's his fault we're facing the situation we're in right now."

"We always knew it was a possibility." I froze, then. That was my mother's voice! "All of us understood the contengency in case one or more of our children stumbled upon the truth. You are all making this out to be much worse than it really is."

"She's right." That was Gabriel's stepfather again. "We merely need to impliment Stage One of the Abel Contengency..."

"Assuming it works, of course!" Miguel's mother again. "Didn't you tell us once, Diane, that the mental supression of memories stood a chance of causing aneurisms and seizures in the subject, not to mention the constant possibility that the memories in question could resurface because of outside stimulus?"

"It does," Nicole's mother admitted. "My husband could use his telepathy to erase any surface memories of the last twenty-four hours or so, but there is always a chance of side effects."

"Reducing my son to a vegetable is not what I would call a 'side effect'!" Mrs. Wright shouted. "I thought you assured us the process could be done safely."

"We think it can," she insisted, continuing. "But it will take time! The process must be done slowly, so as to not cause damage. In the meanwhile, the children must be kept silent, so as to not reveal what they've learned thus far."

"The process need not be permanent," Nicole's father added. "All of our kids were about to reach eighteen. We only need to keep them unaware of the truth for three more years, at most. I'd be willing to perform the process on our daugher first, if it would help resolve any ill feelings. The techno-virus that keeps her mutant X gene supressed allows me greater access to her mind, anyway."

_"Having fun, are we?"_

The voice behind me sent chills down my spine. I automatically knew who it was, but was praying by this point to be wrong.

Big surprise! I wasn't.

Jeff smiled as each one of us. There was a calm, relaxed feeling about him, the same kind he almost always carried. It was like we'd just bumped into one another on the street, or at the mall. His eyes even crinkled a little as he watched us. Without a word, Jeff strode past us and entered the antechamber. We were all too shocked to move out of the way in time; the door remained open after he entered, giving all our positions away.

"Sorry I'm so late!" Jeff told everybody giddily. "I had a bad mess to clean up in my basement. Somebody left something behind they hadn't meant to. Oh, and I see you found my bag of tricks that was stolen. Lots of nasty odds and ends in there!"

The bag of tricks in question was resting on the table where our parents were sitting. They, however, were looking past Jeff at all of us, still lurking in the doorway. My eyes were reserved for my own parents, who's faces remained concealed by red ninja masks. Neither of them made a move; I couldn't even tell what they were feeling. Their eyes had grown cold.

I felt numb inside.

Nicole, on the other hand, was furious! "Techno-virus?" she breathed, rage building all around her. "You told me I was born a flatscan! That I didn't have any powers; that it was all just a fluke! _You _gave me a virus?! _You_ took away my mutant powers on purpose!?"

"Honey..." her mother said softly, looking shocked.

"I hate you!" she screamed. Nicole's eyes had tears in them, but she quickly wiped them away. "I hate all of you! How could you do this to us?!"

"Young lady!" Reverand Merryweather stood, glaring at her. "I believe you are out of line!"

Nicole laughed at him. It wasn't a normal sound, either! "Fuck you!" she spat.

Stepping forward, Nicole brushed past Jeff and snatched the bag of tricks up off the table. I saw his face contort as we both realized what she was doing. Jeff moved to stop her, but I had my bo staff at the ready. The metal landed cleanly across his noggin with a loud clang, sending him crumbling to the floor in a heap.

"Thanks!" she breathed, smiling at me. I suddenly felt twenty feet tall.

"Now, run for it!"

Oh, yeah.

"By the way, mom!" I heard Miguel call out behind me. "Nice outfits!"

I'm not sure why they didn't try to chase after us. Maybe it was just shock, or they figured we wouldn't be able to get far. In either case, I was halfway out the panel that'd let us into the temple before any of us heard them coming up from behind. Nicole had gotten in front of me, so I made sure Miguel and Gabriel went first. Once it was shut, we all made a break for the surface, and freedom!

Freedom, however, was blocked by a team of cult members and ninja thugs.

Which, I guess, explained why nobody was worried about us getting out of here!

"Well," Miguel sighed, looking at me. "Anybody got a different idea?"

There was the sound of glass breaking, and something that might have been wood shattered in the far back behind the armada in front of us. I heard howling, and several cult members dove to their feet as a blur of fur and claws came slashing through towards us. Whatever it was caught them off guard; even the ninjas didn't have time to react! I might have found the whole scenario funny, if it weren't for the fact that whatever-it-was was headed our way!

Ninjas and cultists scattered in all directions. Pews and prayer benches got displaced as a massive and incredibly foul-smelling thing roared up to meet us. Thinking at random, I snatched up a collection plate from the altar and threw it in the air. Unfortunately, in my panic, I didn't take the time to aim. The thing, however, changed directions at once and went running after it. It caught the tin in mid-air, and trodded back to us with what might have been a contented grin on it's rotting face. One eyeball was dangling down from the socket, and there were patches of muscle tissue left exposed to the air. The smell of it made me want to throw up!

And I began to get a sickening thought as to where this thing had come from as it lay the collection plate down at Gabriel's feet.

Gabriel immediately jumped back, looking horrified. The rest of us couldn't really blame him much, though we didn't want it coming near us anymore than he did. Nicole was brave enough to step forward, but stopped the moment the creature growled low.

"What is it?" Miguel wondered, coming up behind her.

"A mastiff." Nicole saw the confused look on Miguel's face, and elaborated quickly. "A really, really big dog famous for it's loyalty to whoever it considers it's master. I think it's dead!"

"I guess we know what that spell Gabriel read does, then!" he grinned, lowering his hand to pet it. The undead mastiff snapped angrily the moment Miguel's fingers came close enough.

"They're also known for their viciousness to anyone who isn't their master," Nicole finished, looking at him.

"Couldn't have told me that earlier?"

"I wasn't dumb enough to stick my fingers in front of it," she replied, curtly.

I laughed, thinking that she sounded like O-Ren a bit in that moment, then remembered. "O-Ren! She left before we did! Do you think they have her somewhere?"

"We'll have to worry about that later," Nicole told me. "Wherever she is, she's safe for the time being! Let's just get out of here before these guys come to!"

Gabriel, meanwhile, had edged closer to the dog, who was watching him with a big grin all over it's rotten doggy face. It didn't so much as bark the closer he got. When Gabriel petted him, it just stood there and drooled contentedly.

"I think someone's found a new pet," Miguel noted. Gabriel looked up at us questioningly, as if to ask if he could keep it.

"Just so long as he's toilet trained," Nicole told him, smiling. "Now, let's move it!"

We didn't make it to the door. Our parents came bursting out of the basement, literally, with the Reverand in the lead. His hands were glowing a sick color of green, indicating he was ready to use magick on us. The state of the door they came from told me he meant business, too!

"Young lady," Nicole's father said, coming up around him. "We need to have a serious talk about your language!"

"Now apologize to the Reverand," her mother added, sternly. "And we'll all go home and have ourselves a nice little talk."

"Get out of the way!" Gabriel cried.

I saw him open the book in his hands, and immediately took cover. Nicole came down with me, leaving Miguel to fend for himself. Gabriel held up the book in his hands, wide open about halfway through, and cried out something in what I assumed was Latin. The effect was instanteous, and scared the bejeezus out of me!

A swarm of white ghosts, not all that different from the one of Amy Howizer we'd seen sacrificed just moments earlier, came flying out from the pages. Each one resembled a skeleton, half rotten and wailing. There were dozens of them, and they each decended on our parents like ravaged animals, wrapping themselves around them and creating chaos. Gabriel observed his handiwork with a kind of twisted satisfaction for a moment, then caught me looking at him in shocked horror.

"Come on!" he screamed, pointing towards the broken door. "We need to leave now!"

"What are those things?" Miguel demanded, running after us. "Extras from 'Raiders of the Lost Ark?'"

"Tortured spirits," Gabriel explained. "They won't last for long, though."

"We need a way out of here," Nicole said, coming to a stop at the edge of the parking lot. "Anybody got any ideas?"

"My car!" I remembered, looking around. "We could take my car... if it weren't still back at the spot where the cops pulled me over!"

As if on cue, my Spyder came roaring up alongside of us. The passenger door swung open, revealing a rather smug looking O-Ren at the wheel. "Anybody need a lift?" she offered, thumbing the back seat.

"You hotwired my car?!" I asked, disbelievingly. "I cannot believe you just hotwired my car!"

"I had to go back and get it!" O-Ren barked, getting all defensive. "And you had the keys with you! There wasn't any other way to get it running!"

"But..." I stammered, not getting in. "You hotwired MY car!"

"Just get in!" Miguel hollered, opening the backseat door.

Before any of us could move, though, a blast came roaring up from behind. It missed Nicole and the others, but hit the back of my car with enough power to flip it over backwards. I watched in a kind of slow-motion trance as O-Ren screamed in fear while the gas tank erupted. The flames exploded outward, but didn't reach the front. The scene sped up, though, and they suddenly were a lot closer to her. My body wouldn't cooperate, though. It wasn't the fact that my car had been trashed; I just couldn't make my feet move!

Miguel whirled around, and his action caused me to follow almost against my will. The Reverand hand one hand extended, still glowing from the spell he'd used to try and attack us. Mr. and Mrs. Wong were behind him, looking horrified.

"You bastard!" Miguel screamed, hoarsely.

"O-Ren!" Mrs. Wong cried.

"Reverand, what have you done?" her father demanded, grabbing him by the collar.

"They were escaping!" he cried out, trying to break free. "I had to stop them!"

"You son of a bitch!" Miguel was stomping back across the parking lot, cursing a mile a minute. As he approached them, his mother came through what was left of the front door. She watched her son with a kind of quiet facination as he drew up on the Reverand with rage in his eyes.

"You nearly killed her!" he screamed, drawing back. "You nearly killed us all!"

"Now, son..." Reverand Merryweather looked like he was going to reason with him, but Miguel was beyond words. There was a kind of sick thud as his fist connected with the good Reverand's chest, and suddenly, Reverand Merryweather was airborne! His body must have flown back a good forty feet or so, well into the cemetary, before it stopped. Nicole and Gabriel were busy helping O-Ren get free of the twisted wreckage that had once been my Spyder. I, however, was dumbstruck.

My legs finally started moving again. I was headed back towards the church, though, to where Miguel was looking at his arm in shock. The closer I got, the easier it was to dissern why! His whole left arm had become a mass of orange rock. The whole thing was swollen to maybe three times its normal size, yet he held it up like it weighted nothing. The Wongs began backing up, no doubt in case he decided to start on them next. Miguel looked up to where his mother stood, watching him with an air of wonder, like she'd never really noticed him before.

"It's... true!" she gasped, moving towards him. "You really are..."

"What's happening?!" Miguel shouted, sounding very near panick. "What's... mom, what the hell am I?"

"You stopped taking your medications, didn't you?" she asked.

I had a feeling his mother already knew the answer. "The pills were tailored to your genetic structure, so you could appear human. We weren't sure yet if the experiment had worked, if you were really a Super Skrull or not..."

"Skrull?!" I didn't know what that was, but Miguel apparently did. And from the look on his face, it wasn't a good thing. "You mean to tell me I'm... a Skrull? An alien?!"

"Not just any Skrull," she whispered, touching his face tenderly. "A Super Skrull! The next of a new generation!"

Miguel backed away from her, like her touch had rendered him cold. "Don't go!" she cried out, reaching for him desperately. "Miguel, I have so much to tell you! There's still a great deal you don't understand yet."

Miguel glanced over at me. His arm was slowly going back to the way it was before. Our eyes met for a second, then he turned to face his mother again. There was about a second where I wasn't sure what he would do. I don't know that I would have blamed him much, then. The truth is, I really can't say I'd have made the same decision he did. Without a word, Miguel turned and ran back towards the burning car, which was now fully ablaze. O-Ren looked okay, though much of her was scratched up. Nicole was checking on her, while Gabriel helped her to stand. His new pet, the undead mastiff dog, was sitting calmly beside his leg, as though waiting for instructions.

"What do we do now?" I asked, feeling hollow.

Everyone looked at me; I wished then that I had an answer to give them, but again, it was Nicole who spoke up. "We run," she told us, letting go of O-Ren. "We have to run away, at least until we can figure out what to do."

"We don't have a way of getting anywhere," O-Ren mumbled, breathing hard. "The car is totaled... Sorry about that, by the way!"

"Let's just run," she said. "They'll be coming after us. We need to find a place to hide, and get some evidence. Something that'll prove our story!"

"Who are we going to tell?" I asked.

"Anyone! Everyone! Anybody that will believe us. But first, we need proof!"

Nicole looked at me, then. Our eyes met, and it occured to me that I didn't really know this girl at all!

"Just run, for now, Dan. We'll figure out the rest as we go."

Little did I know, that night, that we would keep on running for a very long time! To this day, it still feels like we haven't gotten far enough away.


	5. Southern Comforts: Just Older

Runaways:

Southern Comforts

Chapter 5

Just Older

by Ri-kun

I never would've thought Nicole capable of thinking something like this. She had really surprised all of us tonight with the way she just took charge. It actually made me feel a little set back for a minute or two; I'd originally assumed I would be the one to take the lead when the shite inevitably struck the proverbial fan. Nicole had us race through the woods directly across from the church. There was a parking lot not far from it, and someone had left a rusted old van there with the doors unlocked. Miguel and I got busy switching the plates around on several vehicles; Nicole insisted it would make us all the more harder to find. O-Ren, meanwhile, was busy hotwiring again.

"I really am sorry about your car," she told me again, once we were all inside. "Really! I never thought they'd blow it up..."

"It's over and done with!" I told her, quickly. Gabriel shut the door, and we peeled out of there like our asses were on fire. "Besides," I added. "My parents had it insured before it left the car dealership!"

"Better hope the policy covers acts of enraged dark sorcerer," Gabriel said, looking over my way.

His dog was with us, making the inside of van smell all the worse. I really hoped the only thing it needed was a bath, or else we were all going to have a serious problem. I'd already thrown up enough in the last twelve hours!

"So, where are we going?" Miguel piped up, looking from one to the other. "Does anyone have a real plan this time?"

"Proof!" Nicole said, turning around in the passenger seat. "We need to find some proof of our parents' wrongdoings, so we can go to the police and tell them what we know."

"Why?" O-Ren interjected. She took her eyes off the road and nearly sent us into a ditch.

"Watch the road!" Miguel cried out, hanging on for dear life.

"Don't backseat drive! It's distracting. And why go to the police? I think it's pretty clear by now that our parents own the cops, and probably every other legal division in the state!"

"We'll think of someone to talk to," Nicole assured, looking worried. "But first, we need solid evidence. It won't do any good to tell people anything if we don't have something that can back our word up."

"I never saw any spaceships at our garage," Miguel told us, hurriedly. "There were plenty of suspicious people coming in and out, but nothing that told me they were flying in from 'out of town'. Kinda makes the whole 'border patrol' joke seem mild now, huh?"

"You wouldn't have noticed if E.T. landed in your backyard asking for directions!" O-Ren quipped, keeping her face forward this time.

Privately, I agreed with her! "What about your house, then?" Nicole asked, looking at Gabriel expectantly. "Anything there that could help us?"

"Maybe," he shrugged. "But my parents probably have enchantments and stuff all over the place. I've lived there for years, and there wasn't anything that suggested they were involved in... Well, my mom had a fit when she caught me reading Harry Potter, so that should give you some idea!"

"What's he talking about?" O-Ren asked, glancing in the rear-view mirror.

"You missed it earlier," I told her. "Gabriel's parents are really dark sorcerers that worship a..."

I paused. "Dormamu," Miguel filled in for me. "I've read about him on the internet. Dormamu is this evil, interdimensional, world-devouring, demonic demigod. His main follower is a guy named Baron Mordo, who I'm guessing wrote that book of Gab's! That's why I got so freaked out back there over it. Doctor Strange has fought against the both of them several times. So has Spider-Man, I think!"

O-Ren snorted. "You see, this is precisely why I don't like going to church. And if Spider-Man could beat either of them, they can't be that tough!"

"Hey, don't diss Spider-Man! He's taken down the Juggernaut twice!"

"That's even worse!"

"Quiet!" Nicole snapped. "What else is there, then?"

I quickly filled Nicole in on what all there was at my parents' place. She immediately ordered O-Ren to take us there. I gave her directions from behind, while filling her in on what all had gone down in the church, including some revelations concerning the rest of us.

"So, you're from outer space?" she said, glaring back in Miguel's general direction. "Well, that makes a hell of a lot of sense!"

"I didn't know until about a half hour ago!" he said, defensively.

"And just what the heck is a Skrull, anyway? Some kind of intersteller Neo-Nazi?"

"Close," he admitted, gravely. "They're this interplanetary race of world-conquering shapeshifters. Now that I think about it, my mom had a fit herself when she caught me reading about them online. I guess she didn't want me to know anything ahead of time, either."

I had to fill O-Ren on that part, too. "They called themselves the Pride. I don't know what it means, but they were saying that we were supposed to find out about everything when we turned eighteen. Us learning about them now was a fluke accident. They also talked about having a backup plan in case this did occur; something about erasing our memories!"

"Well, forget that!" O-Ren swore, turning where I pointed, and making the wheels scream in protest. "Now that I know, there's no way those hypocrites are going to get the chance to shut me up! I'll tell every crackpot and nutjob in the city if I have to, until somebody listens to me!"

My house was just up ahead. We saw the flashing lights of police cars long before we got close enough for them to spot us. It was a good thing, too, because O-Ren had to veer sharply to the left in order to turn around. We wound up pulling a hard one-eighty degree turn, which sent all of us flying about in the back. Miguel landed on my head, and I could feel Gabriel's dog clawing at us desperately from below, stuff oozing out of him all the while. I swore that my skin would never feel clean again after that!

"Well, that's out!" O-Ren proclaimed, dejectedly.

"There's one place left," Nicole said. "Head to 8th Street, and step on it. I really should've seen that coming. Naturally, if they control the police, they would've placed them at all our houses in case we tried going to one of them!"

"So, what's on 8th Street, then?" Miguel wondered. "Nobody we know lives there, am I right?"

"True," Nicole admitted. "But, if I'm right, there might be another way. We can't risk going to any of our houses tonight, but I'll be none of them have thought to put guards around where they work!"

"The pharmacy?" O-Ren asked, startled.

"Exactly! The church is out, obviously, since we just left there. And if they're watching Dan's house, then most likely the cops will be at the rest of our homes, too, waiting to see if we show up. The pharmacy seems like the best place to go. Plus, there's probably some evidence laying around we can look through!"

"I doubt it!" she grumbled, gripping the wheel tightly. "But, if you insist, we'll head over there."

"Keep to the back roads," I offered, helpfully. "Less chance of them spotting us that way."

O-Ren said nothing to us for the rest of the trip, though it was a relatively short one. I had the feeling that us proving to be right was weighing pretty damn hard down on her at the moment. She seemed to be driving slower with each passing second. When Miguel got up the nerve to ask her why, though, she passed it off as not wanting to draw attention to outselves, then proceeded to suggest that he engage in sexual intercourse with his own person.

"If he could do that," Gabriel pointed out. "He'd never leave his house for anything!"

"That's for damn sure!" Miguel replied, backing me up.

Luckily, O-Ren knew how to get into her parents' business, even though she swore to have never been here before. There was a door in back behind the alley where we left the van. It kept us in the shadows and out of sight, for which I was very grateful. Of course, this also meant that O-Ren spent several minutes fumbling around in the darkness, looking for the spare key. Twice, she insisted that somebody go back to the van and turn the lights on for her, but each time Nicole told her no. It would, after all, have given our position away.

O-Ren still didn't like it, even after she found the key and let us in.

The back door led us down a dimly-lit hallway. Even before O-Ren found the lights, something in the back of my mind told me we'd come to the right place. At the very least, there was no secret panel to locate; no hidden button to push so we could find the evidence we'd come here for. Just about everything had been left out in plain sight!

There were weapons all over the place, and nothing like the ones my parents had kept in their hidden basement lair. Most of these were kept inside canisters that had numbered labels printed on the side. The contents of them glowed and shimmered with a strange light. They were most certainly of a liquid variety, and clearly dangerous. The first thing O-Ren did was command Miguel to not touch anything. She had good timing; he'd been just about to reach out and grab hold of an especially nasty green substance held in place by a black cylindral. I found myself breathing a sigh of relief when he yanked his arm back, frowning.

O-Ren and Nicole, meanwhile, had located a large stack of CD-ROMS on a table next to a Dell laptop. O-Ren seemed more bothered by the brand name than anything else; she kept ranting about corporate mogulism and mainstream marketing. Nicole tapped her on the shoulder after a second, though, and cut her off. Curious, I walked over with Gabriel and his smelly mutt to see what she was holding. The CD in her hand had her name written on it, once in English, and again in what I assumed was Chinese. There was also another kanji at the bottom, one I didn't recognize.

Of course, I didn't speak chinese anyway, so all of this was purely guesswork.

"It means 'knowledge'," she told me, when I asked. "What does this mean?"

"I think," Gabriel waged. "They meant for you to hear it someday. Try playing it on the computer."

O-Ren hesitated for a second or so. She seemed to be waging some great inner struggle with herself. Finding out about our lineage had been rough on everyone, but she looked especially pale. I almost offered to do it for her, but then she turned and furiously slammed the CD-ROM down into the drive without a word. I hoped there was something left on it when she was through taking her anger out on the computer! She appeared determined to blame it for everything we'd endured in the last day.

The screen came to life, and immediately began reading what was on the disk. There was a minute or two where the screen showed nothing but a bunch of authorization windows and computer jargon. Then, a password box came up. O-Ren saw down and looked at it for a moment, her hands hovering over the keyboard.

"It has nine letters," she mused, her fingers twitching. "Let's try 'knowledge' and see what come up."

"Good idea!"

O-Ren typed it in, and almost at once, the lights went out. There was a pause, where I was sure we were about to die horribly and painfull, then a light shot down from the ceiling. We all jumped a little, but it turned out to be only a hologram. As the image took shape, we all were surprised to see O-Ren's parents standing there in the middle of the room, passing halfway through a table that contained corked vials marked 'virus'.

_**"Good evening, O-Ren!" **_the image of her father said, stiffly. _**"If you have found this, then that means either your mother and I are dead, or something unforseen and terribly destructive has come about. If the latter is the case, then it was most likely a new civil war, or invasion by corporate terrorists."**_

_**"You always knew something like this would happen, and I hope that by now your mother and I have prepared you for this. In the third compartment up front, near the Tylenol and boxes of tampons, you will find a secret compartment that contains several inventions that we've been working on in our spare time. I hope they come in handy during the forthcoming battles. If you need further answers, simply seek out the Whittakers." **_

_**"Their copy of the Abstract scroll contains the entire history of the Pride, including the reason why your mother and I chose to ally ourselves with them, against better judgement. If the Whittakers prove reluctant to turn over the Abstract, you have our permission to use deadly force. We hope this finds you well, and please remember that your mother and I are proud of you for continuing on with the beliefs that we instilled in you! Good luck!"**_

"Well," I said, bitterly. "They really thought of everything, didn't they!"

Everyone looked at me, except for O-Ren. I had the balls to at least feel ashamed of myself, but for just one moment, I'd hated her and her whole messed up family life. It really made me ashamed of myself, knowing what my own parents had been up to for so many years. O-Ren just stared at the spot where the hologram had appeared for a moment, then headed up front. We all knew where she must be going, but followed after her anyway.

She'd already gotten the compartment open by the time I got there, and was holding up a rather large gun. I immediately felt regret for what I said, and took refuge behind the shelf of condoms next to me. She wasn't pointing the gun at me; rather, she looked offended that it was there in the first place.

"That's all there is in here!" she croaked, sounding miserable. "There's nothing but guns, and parts for what I'm guessing are more guns! My parents were supposed to be pacifists, for crying out loud! They hate war; they were going to vote for Hilary just as soon as she ran for office, because of her views on dismantling the military! Why did they even need any of this?! It's not like we were broke or anything! What was all of this stuff for?!"

I would have liked to answer her. Had I the answers to her questions, I would have left the security that the back of the shelf provided and gone over to her. Provided she put the gun down, of course!

Nicole did walk over to her, though, and put a hand gently on her shoulder. "Let's take it with us, anyway," she said, softly. "It's a start, at least."

O-Ren didn't answer, but looked back in the compartment with revulsion. "There's all sorts of what I guess are upgrade parts for this thing. And something that looks like a skateboard. I can't imagine why they'd put that thing in there!"

"Here!" she said, tossing it through the air at me. "What do you make of it?"

I guess she just wanted the attention off herself for a little while, so I didn't get mad, even when it hit me on the forehead. There wasn't very much to it; the thing really did look like a weird-looking skateboard, minus any wheels. I felt like I'd seen one of these before somewhere. Maybe in a movie...

The windows up front shattered instantly, and several smoking canisters came rolling along the ground towards us. I recognized them for what they were, but it was Nicole who shouted for us to run. The gas spread very quickly. We'd barely made it behind the counter before it filled the air where we'd just been standing.

"How did they find us?" I wondered.

"Must have a silent alarm somewhere," Miguel said, looking upward. "We tripped it when we came in without deactivating it."

"Those bastards!" O-Ren growled. "Here, lemme see that!"

She was pointing at one of the upgrade pieces that Nicole had in her hand, who obliged by offering it without argument. O-Ren found the slot where it belonged without a problem, and grinned wickedly when the piece licked into place. The gun suddenly shifted in her hands, like something out of a Transformers movie. It was now slimmer, and looked a lot lighter than before. The barrel stretched out almost three feet, like what a sniper would use.

"What do you guys think?" she said, cocking it. "Do we fight our way out?"

"They've brought the police, at the very least," Nicole said. "If not ninjas and cult members! Something tells me none of them will waste time pulling their punches."

"How about the back way?" Miguel pointed.

"Too risky. If they found us, they've covered every exit. Unless!"

Nicole pointed at me. "That thing in your hand! Could you get it to work?"

I had no idea, but wasn't going to tell her that. "Get it to work," she told me, when I nodded. "O-Ren, you come with me. We'll keep them distracted until you can turn it on. If it does what I think it does, we may stand a chance of getting out of here alive. Gabriel, you and Miguel head to the back until I call for you. Keep watch, and take out anybody that comes through those doors. I suspect we'll have company in just a few minutes."

"Some people should phone first before stopping by!" Miguel quipped. "Sure thing, boss! Come on, Gab."

Gabriel went with him without a word, leaving me behind to work out something I'd never seen before. I hoped there was an instruction manual lying around somewhere, but a quick rifle through all the files under the cabinet told me nothing, other than someone named Bart Thomson was taking antibiotics for a vasectomy, and that my next-door neighbor needed a new prescription for birth control. Which was more than I needed, actually!

I decided to go for the tried and true method which had served so many technical support advisors over the years. Bullets could be heard from up front, along with something that I hoped was a laser rifle returning fire. O-Ren, it seemed, was helping to keep the police busy! I lay the board down on the tile floor, and began stomping on it as hard as I could without exposing my head to the gun fire. It seemed the god of technical wizardry hadn't forsaken me yet, because I did something right without meaning to. The board lit up all at once, and I found myself being lifted off the ground slowly. What more, I couldn't pull my feet off the pads that they slipped into. Something was holding them firmly in place.

And then, I was shooting around the room like a pinball on crack!

I couldn't tell which direction I was going. There was definitely pandemonium everywhere, though. I think O-Ren might have taken a couple of shots at me, which only served to make me scream even louder. I was loosing manly points where Nicole stood by the second, but couldn't stay focused long enough to care. Suddenly, I was outside, and being shot at by cops who obviously had never seen a teenager buzz them overhead on a rocket powered sideways flying skateboard. Bullets were raining from all directions, people were screaming so loudly I couldn't tell whether it was Nicole or not, and then something snatched me out of the air.

I was literally frozen in mid-air, hanging upside-down with my staff gripped so tightly in my hands it would take a crowbar to pry it loose. The other police officers had stopped moving as well. O-Ren was kneeling down beside a very sick-looking Gabriel, who had the Word of Mordo out in front of him, opened to a page I couldn't see well from the angle I was in. Even still, there was enough blood left in my brain for me to figure out what had happened.

Miguel somehow was able to stretch his arms long enough to pull me down. Gabriel informed us then that the time stop spell wouldn't last for very long. It had nearly killed him casting it, so we made tracks out of there. Miguel insisted on switching the plates again, even though we didn't really have enough time. There was nothing to trade them for but police cars, which I was sure would be even more conspicious, but refrained from saying. We left just as it looked like the spell was begining to wear off.

Everyone was quiet as I drove. O-Ren hadn't looked well enough to risk giving the wheel, so I took the front seat with Nicole. It felt like we'd all aged a hundred years. Something was pressing down on my shoulders like a quarter-ton of solid brick. It hurt just to keep my head leveled to watch the road for traffic. At the least, it was late enough that there weren't many cars out now. That meant fewer people would spot us, but we couldn't count on that for long. I could see the first glimmer of sunrise coming up over the horizon.

"That was a fiasco," Nicole muttered. "I nearly got all of us killed, and we didn't even get a chance to take any real evidence from the pharmacy! Now, where are we going to go? We need a place where we can sleep, and plan our next move."

"I know I place," I told her, feeling oddly calm. "We can hold up there for the time being."

The place I was referring to was called Kamelot Arcade. Or, rather, it had been at some point. Kamelot Arcade was a place my mom and dad brought me a lot to when I was in elementary school. I remembered how mad I'd been when they closed it down. The building never opened again, and nothing had been built in place of it. I snuck over once in junior high, a couple of years after it went out of business on a whim, just to have a look at it.

As it turned out, the gate surrounding it had been torn open on the back side. I'd snuck in just to get a closer look, and learned the secret of slipping in undetected. For the next three years, that had been my magical hideaway. I hadn't come back in awhile, but no one else knew about it. We'd be safe there, and I knew for a fact that there were places to sleep.

I drove us there, stashing the van in this old sewage drain that was just big enough to back it into. Once that was taken care up, we slipped across the street and around back to where the opening was at the gate. From there, it was just a matter of wedging the employee entrance open. Miguel did that, even though it didn't really require super-strength to do it. I'd been managing just fine, after all, for the past three years. I think he just wanted an excuse to test his powers.

The place was old and duty, but well-kept. I showed everybody where someone had left bunk beds and blankets for us to sleep on. We were all tired, but way too wound up to sleep, so it was some time before any of us went to bed.

And, of course, there was the fact that we all needed to talk.

I think I'd been dreading this more than anything, but it was important to Nicole that we all got our facts straight up front. Which meant that we all had to sit around in a circle and reveal what we'd learned about our lives and our parents. None of us wanted to, but since I'd spent the most time in my parents evil lair trying to figure out what they were up to, my story turned into the longest. When I got to the scroll, O-Ren raised up at attention suddenly.

"The Abstract scroll!" she declared, pointing at my chest in an accusing way. "The hologram of my parents said that yours had it stashed away. They said it contained everything in it about our parents!"

"Right!" I exclaimed. Then, my face fell. "And it was in the front seat of my car, which burned to a firey crisp on account of Reverand Merryweather!"

"Sorry!" Gabriel said, quickly.

"No one's blaming you," Nicole told him, quickly. "But we really could've used that scroll. I just bet it had all the proof we needed!"

"Good thing I picked it up when you were helping me out of Dan's screaming metal deathtrap, huh?" O-Ren was holding up the scroll now, wearing a very self-satisfied look on her face. "Glad to see I haven't lost my touch!"

"It's in code," I warned Nicole, who took it out of O-Ren's hands with relish. "I tried reading it myself, but nothing made sense."

"There was a Seer's Ring in the bag of tricks I stole from Jeff's basement," she told me, reaching into it. "It said that this thing can decode encrypted messages! We just have to use it to decipher it's meaning."

"Until then," Miguel spoke up. "I think we should elect a team leader."

"What for?" I wondered, staring his way.

"We just need one," he insisted, getting to his feet. "If we're really serious about all of this; if we're really going to get evidence about what are parents really are, and what they've been doing all this time, then we need a team leader. I mean, that's what this is all about, right? Stopping them before they come after us, right?"

He had a point. "So," Miguel went on, tossing his chest back. "I nominate myself."

Of course! O-Ren actually laughed in his face. "No way am I following you to so much as a comic book sale! I nominate and vote for Nicole. She got us out of more than one sticky spot tonight. I trust her to lead us in this... whatever we call it."

"In our mission to stop our evil, supervillian parents?" I offered.

"Right," she nodded. "Nicole has my vote."

"Mine too, then," I said, looking at her. "I agree with everything O-Ren just said. You were amazing back there!"

Nicole blushed. Miguel, meanwhile, was glowering down at Gabriel as if to instill a mental command into his brain. I really hoped that wasn't one of his alien powers. Personally, I agreed with O-Ren on what she said about him, too!

Gabriel, however, needn't have worried me. "Nicole," he said, calmly, not blinking away from Miguel.

"Traitor!" Miguel hissed, then sat back down to sulk and pout.

"Fine," Nicole nodded. "I accept."

"We should have team names, though!" Miguel interrupted, looking alive again. "You know! To solidify our... unity, or whatever!"

"Team names?" I asked. "Like what?"

"Well," he stood up again. "I think I should be... Captain Crash!"

I wanted to laugh at him. Resistance was futile, especially with everyone else snickering loudly. "Captain Crash?" Gabriel jeered. "Does that mean one of them is the beauty queen from Mars?" He was pointing at O-Ren and Nicole, smiling the whole time. I couldn't figure out what he meant, and it must have shown on my face.

"Bon Jovi reference," Miguel explained, giving Gabriel a high-five. "Going to be lost on you, I'd wager, Mr. Japanese Techno! Speaking of which, what name are you going to pick for yourself?"

I had to think about it, but it finally came to me. "Midoriyama!" I declared, with the same overdramatics that Miguel had used.

"Midori-what?" he asked, incredulously. "What the hell is that?"

"The place in Japan where they shoot 'Sasuke: Ninja Warrior'. It's a television show, like American Gladiators, only much cooler. I watch it every Sunday on G4."

"Think of something else!" O-Ren pleaded. "You're not really japanese, so you shouldn't get to pick a name from the language."

"Actually, I'm one-quarter Japanese!" I countered, proudly. "My mom was born in Tokyo, but had a mother who was german. I grew up listening to her curse in the language every time my older brother did something wrong! It's how I know Japanese as well as I do."

"Fine!" O-Ren muttered, though she knew she'd been defeated. "In that case, I'd like to be Shooter. From the Mark Wahlberg movie!"

"Because he spends a whole scene with his shirt off about halfway through the movie!" Miguel laughed. "So, what about you, Nicole?"

"I like my name," she replied, nonchalantly. "Besides, it's too late, or early, for me to think about it right now. I'll come up with a good one later, I promise!"

"There's no rush," I assured, winning me a smile.

"Well, I guess that just leaves you," Miguel said, looking over at Gabriel. "What's it going to be? We should also come up with a name for your dog, too! What's a good name for an undead killer mutt?"

"His name is Scooby," Gabriel told us, giving the dog a pat on the head. "I picked it out on the way here. He seems to like it!"

"You should name him something like Bittersuite," Miguel offered instead. "Then, you can be Doctor Feelgood."

Gabriel was stuck on Scooby, however, so O-Ren finally insisted that Miguel let the subject drop. We were all exhausted, hungry, tired, injured, and worn out. It did indeed felt like we aged somehow. From the time we wandered down into Jeff's basement seemed to be where our lives really started. Everything before that felt like borrowed movie stills from someone else's life. Someone far more normal than I was! With a jolt, I realized that I had an older brother, who probably didn't know anything about what was happening. I'd have to find a phone and call him soon. We hadn't spoken since his last visit some months ago. I wondered how he'd take all of this, and whether any of it would sound believable to him.

Finally, I fell asleep, but it wasn't the restful kind. My brain just wouldn't shut off, no matter what I tried. There were sheep, thousands of itchy and smelly sheep, making lots of racket as I watched them jump back and forth across a fence above my makeshift bed. I kept thinking about the battle in the pharmacy, and what the Wongs had inferred, however unwillingly. The Wongs had been involved, and so had my parents. So had Nicole, which still seemed odd to me. I'd waited for two years to have something in common with her; as it turned out, something had been there all along. And now, she was not far away, in the other room...

Predictably, there was a reaction somewhere down south that no amount of self-adjusting fabric could help with. I had to think of something to take my mind off our abrupt living arrangements. So, I thought about what the future held for all of us. No matter how hard I looked at it, though, the future was nothing but a big empty black void. Something was welling up in my chest the whole time, though. It felt like a fire, only colder. I realized then that some of us might not live for too much longer. I couldn't count myself among the number just yet. My heart wouldn't let me bring myself to, but I knew even at that moment that things were never going to be the same.

And if what I'd seen of my parents was what the future had in store for me, then I was going to be as bad as I could get. I'd do everything in my power to keep everyone safe, and stop our parents from doing whatever they were planning to, even at the risk of my own life. But, I wasn't going to be good. Not for God, or myself, or anyone else!

After all, only the good die young.


	6. Youth Gone Wild: Stick to Your Guns

Runaways:

Youth Gone Wild

Chapter 1

Stick to Your Guns

by Ri-kun

I used to listen to other kids talk about running away in school. It always sounded like a really bad idea to me. I mean, no matter how bad things are at home, it can only get much worse being out in the real world without someone to lean on. No one to help take care of you, no one with money or experience, or even a place to live!

There were these three guys I knew back in junior high. Not really well, but I had a few classes with them. They decided to run away from home one night, and head off out west towards Texas. I think one of them had lived there as a kid, so he knew some people who'd take them in. They stole a car to get there, though, along with about two grand in cash! That got the police after their asses. I don't think people would have cared to much otherwise, but the long story short is, they were caught pretty quickly. I remembered asking my English teacher on a whim, since she and I got along really well, if she ever thought I'd do something like that.

She'd looked at me and kind of laughed. "No, of course not! I don't think you could ever do that to your parents!"

Guess we all get it wrong every once in a while, huh?

I'd been thinking about that day a lot lately. We'd been on the run for a couple of days now, and life inside the Arcade wasn't easy. There was no central heating and air, for one thing. That might not sound very important, but when you've lived with such luxuries all your life, their absence can cause you to realize just how much you've taken for granted over the years. Also, we hadn't brought any spare clothes with us; there just hadn't been enough time, and the cops were watching all of our houses for any signs of us. I think the Pride still believed that we might come home sooner or later. The truth was, we'd all debated on it more than once, even though nobody was about to say it out loud.

So, we had no clean clothes, which meant the only things for us to wear were what was on our backs. It was cold, we were all tired and dirty, and there was no running water for us to shower with. More to the point, there wasn't anything to drink!

We'd found some leftover snacks in a couple of broken vending machines. O-Ren bitched the whole time about preservatives and fatty acids, until Miguel pointed out that those very things were what was keeping us alive right now. She pouted, but stayed silent. I think the revelation of her folks involvement in the Pride was still too shocking for her to grasp. She'd been strangely quiet, speaking only at odd moments to rant about some random, unrelated thing, before falling back into a dead quiet. It was a little creepy, actually!

That was what our parents called themselves, by the way. The Pride was apparently something that'd been formed about twenty-one years ago. Nicole figured out that one of the gadgets in her bag of stolen time trinkets could translate the Abstract scroll. It was called the Seer's Ring; I remembered seeing her pick it up when we were in Jeff Woltz's secret basement. It really could translate secret messages! We'd tried it out a couple of times just to make sure, writing stuff in a basic code that two or more of us could scrape together in a few minutes, and Nicole got it right each time. There was one problem, however:

The Abstract scroll, it seemed, was a much more complicated encryption than anything Miguel or I could come up with. This shouldn't have surprised me, but we were all a little disappointed. Nicole reasoned that the Seer's Ring had been a child's toy in whatever timeline it was taken out of. The design, she'd pointed out to us, looked like something vaguely out of a cracker jack box. However, the ring was able to put together one or two sentences after several hours. It also turned Nicole's finger green, just like the warning in the case had said!

It wasn't much to go on, but finding out about the Pride was something, I thought. O-Ren had been the only one to not look enthused by it, but I let her be. Poking fun at her right now would only serve to get my ass lit up by a shapeshifting rifle, and I could do without that.

After a while, though, it became clear that our food supply was dwindling. The vending machines we'd plundered for sugary and salty snacks were empty now, and there was still nothing to drink. We'd made do thus far by slipping across the street to a local coke machine. Nicole put a stop to it after the second trip, however, stating that repeated visits would only give our position away. With what little money we had almost gone, it was becoming clear that somebody had to think of something!

Fortunately, that was where I came in.

I'd been waiting for the right moment to bring this up, because something told me Nicole would be against it at first. It was, admittedly, a very risky venture, but the situation we were in wasn't improving. Plus, we'd spent the last several days locked away in an abandoned building with nothing to do but remember all the horrible things that'd happened to lead us here. Everyone was getting a little sick of one another by this point, so a trip outside seemed in order.

"No," was Nicole's first response when I brought it up.

I swallowed, having to fight my attraction and instinctive desire to bend to her will, and went on. "It could work," I pointed out. "Besides, we're running low on money. There's no more food here, and who knows how long it'll take you to finish translating the scroll. We could spend weeks here, or many even months. In that time, it stands to reason we'd get thirsty. The drinks are almost gone, by the way!"

"I know," she said, sounding grave. "But leaving just puts us all at risk! People are going to be on the lookout for us, even if they don't really know what's going on. You know how this town reacts when there's a scandal. Remember the Polkisten sisters?"

I'd forgotten about that, and actually laughed a little remembering. "Sorry!" I said quickly, lowering my head. "But there would be enough to keep everyone here going for a while."

"It's stealing!" she insisted. "Wouldn't that put us all in the same boat as our parents? Doesn't that make us just as bad as them?"

"It's not stealing," I assured her. "Not when the money is really ours! We don't have to take any more than what's in my account."

Nicole looked at me. "I cannot believe you're actually trying to talk me into robbing a bank! Even if the money in the account is yours, taking it without filling out the withdrawl slips makes it stealing. That's why they put rules like that into place."

"Okay," I shrugged. "If you want, I'll fill out the forms while you guys get the cash. It really doesn't matter where the money comes from, since it's all done by electronic banking these days. But there's roughly two grand in each account, and with three accounts total, that comes to almost six thousand dollars. That could buy us a lot of grocerys!"

"And get us sent to prison for up to fifteen years, if we're caught!" she countered. "But, alright! You do have a point about us needing money. I'm not getting anywhere with this stupid scroll yet. The ring does work, but it's just that the Abstract is so freakin' complicated! I really don't know how long we're going to be here. In fact, it might be a good idea for us to start looking for a new hideout, in case we have to abandon this one for whatever reason."

"You'll figure the scroll out," I assured her, hoping this got me a few bonus points in her favor. "In the meantime, let's go to the bank tonight and get the money. I really want to eat something other than stale Snickers bars for dinner again!"

"Not yet!" she said, firmly. "We need to check the place out, first. It's important to know what sort of security they have, and how hard it would be to get past it."

"What for?" I wondered. "We've got a sorcerer-in-training with a magick spellbook, an alien superhero with all the powers of the Fantastic Four, the daughter of a genius inventor who owns a polymorphing space-age gun... And me," I added. "The son of evil ninjas, with my trusty collapsable staff and rocket-powered hoverboard."

"I notice you didn't throw myself into that equation," she said, raising an eyebrow at me.

"And you!" I added quickly, bowing low in retrobution. "With your almight bag of tricks taken from alternate timelines, and your genius gift for strategy! I'm just grateful you never played Dungeons and Dragons against me!"

"I did play it, when I was younger," she said, thoughtfully. "The mutant kids at my parents' school sometimes got together, and they invited me every now and then. Mostly, I would just watch, but it looked kind of interesting."

"When this is all over, I shall buy you every single book there is in the new 4th edition release!"

"Thanks, but I'll be fine without it," she said, smiling. "And as for your remark concerning our master team, remember that Gabriel just got that spellbook a few days ago. He can't have learned much from it this early on. And Miguel can barely handle his shapeshifting abilities, much less maintain the Thing's powers for more than a couple of minutes. O-Ren still spaces out at random; I think the shock of what happened hasn't worn off yet. To be honest, I'm really worried about her! And as for your flying board, the last time you took a flight on in wasn't exactly your finest hour. At least, I hope it wasn't!"

I blushed, wishing for all the world that I'd kept my mouth shut. "Oh, right..."

"None of us really know how to use our powers yet," she pointed out. "Those of us that have any, at least! We really need to practice together, learn how well we work with one another, and get some training in. Especially before we try and tackle anything as daring as a bank robbery."

"We're robbing banks?" Miguel asked.

His voice came out of nowhere, scaring the shit out of me! I looked around for him, but there was no one. At least, not at first; a dim outline of his body suddenly faded into view in front of my eyes. It almost looked like a bad special effect from an old movie, but gradually, the rest of his body came with it.

"You can turn invisible?" Nicole asked, not sounding angry. I was plenty pissed, but kept quiet to avoid getting on her bad side.

"Sure looks that way!" he replied, cheekily, laughing at his own pun. "I'm supposed to have all the powers of the Fantastic Four. Last night got me thinking, and I wondered if I could turn myself invisible like Sue Reeds does. It took me a while, but I finally got the hang of it. Sort of..."

"How long can you stay invisible?" she pressed, curious.

"About two or three minutes. I haven't timed myself yet, but it's around the same amount of time as when I use the Thing's strength and invincibility. Say, do you suppose those drugs my parents were giving me could've..."

"Later!" Nicole interrupted. "Sorry, but I'm getting an idea as to how we can make this work! Get the others and meet me in the main game room in ten minutes."

Miguel and I both watched her leave. "What was that all about?" he wondered, looking at me. "And are we really gonna rob a bank?"

"Not exactly," I said. "Come on, I'll explain on the way."

Getting everyone together really wasn't that hard. The Arcade wasn't very big, and I mostly knew where people's haunts were. O-Ren spent most of her time shut up in the small space she'd declared her own, while Gabriel lurked in one of the booths by the concession stand, playing with his tarot cards. He was doing just that when I informed him that Nicole wanted to see us all. Scooby was sitting by his leg, and gave a small growl the moment I came close, but didn't try to gnaw my leg off. The undead canine didn't like the rest of us much, but refused to attack unless Gabriel gave the command. I really glad to be on his good side!

"Peace!" Miguel said, when I brought him to the game room. "Dr. Feelgood!"

He'd taken to using our codenames whenever we walked by. I hadn't given much thought to mine since we first picked them, but Miguel was refusing to answer to anything other than Captain Crash. Nicole had called me 'Dan' a few times, and that was alright with me. I really liked the way my real name sounded when she said it. It was a warm, gooey feeling, and there'd been very few of those recently. We still hadn't come up with a name for Nicole that she liked. Miguel had seriously offered 'Strategem' as one, until he saw the look on her face.

"So, we're robbing banks now?" O-Ren said, looking from Nicole to me. "Well, that shouldn't surprise me! Mom always said I should pick my friends more carefully."

"The money is mine," I told her, fighting the urge to get mad. "It's right there in the bank, and I've got all the proof we need. It's just that we can't walk into the bank and get it without revealing ourselves. If my parents are smart enough to have taken over the criminal underworld, they've probably got every possible branch staked out in case I show up. The security guards will be looking for me."

"And it doesn't bother you that the money in those accounts is covered in blood."

I looked at her closely. "What are you driving at?" I had a feeling I already knew, but wanted to hear it from her first.

"Nothing," was all she said.

Nicole watched the exchange, but when it went no further, she went on. "Dan says he can fill out all the withdrawl information while we're getting the cash. I know it seems like we're sending up a flare as to where we've been, but our parents will learn it was us sooner or later anyway. We just need to take the right ammount, then run for it. It shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes if all goes well."

"And since when has anything gone 'well' in the past week?"

Nicole got up from her seat, and marched over to stand in front of O-Ren. The look on her face was actually a little scary. I caught Gabriel staring my way, as if asking if we should run from the room. Truth was, I wasn't so sure myself.

"If you've got a problem with the way things are," Nicole said in a calm voice. "Say it. Say it right now, and get it out of the way. Otherwise, shut your mouth and take orders! Because, from this point on, we're all in this together. We either work as a team, or not at all. And if you've got a problem with being here, don't forget that it was your decision to come in the first place. None of us forced you into it, and no one will stop you if you decide to leave."

I couldn't believe she said that. "If you go," she went on. "We won't stop you. We'll have to pack everything up, burn the whole building down to destroy any traces of us being here, but we're not going to force anyone to stay. If you're sick of this, then go back to the Pride and have your memories erased! It's better for you to do that than hold us all back by not being a team player. Understand?"

After that, none of us had any complaints. We were all more than happy to follow any instructions Nicole gave to us, because we sure as hell didn't want her as an enemy! Evil ninjas, black magick sorcerers, time traveling killers... They all paled in comparison to the look of sheer determination on her face at that moment.

God, I loved that woman!

The rest of the day was spent planning for the upcoming heist, for lack of a better term. I kept telling myself that we weren't really doing anything wrong, that circumstances had forced us to take this route, and that it was really just a simple money withdrawl. I really wished that I was a confident about the whole thing as I'd made myself sound when proposing the idea to Nicole. In reality, my conscience was bugging the crap out of me!

After several hours of planning, we decided to slip out and post a watch at the bank. Since this was really no more than a two-man job, Nicole decided to send us out in shifts. I took the first watch with O-Ren, which was about as exciting as watching linoleum curl in the summertime. She hadn't said a word since Nicole verbally leaped down her throat, but it was better than listening to her complain! The quiet was only broken by her occasionally switching modes on the metamorph gun, which gave off a rusty metallic sound each time she did it. It was soft enough that no one else heard it, so I didn't ask her to stop.

We just sat in the van, which was parked down any alley across from the bank, and watched the front doors. Nothing out of the ordinary happened, except that I spotted an old car with tinted windows parked way down the street from us. Someone was looking over at the bank in it, but it was too dark to see. Nicole was interested when I brought this up, but didn't say anything about it. Miguel and Gabriel went out next with Scooby, who came back two hours later with the exact same report that we'd filed, followed by a very graphic description of how undead mastiffs smell inside a hot van with no air conditioning!

The bank had minimal security guards, and what looked like in our unprofessional opinion, standard electronic security. Apparently, the bank wasn't so much worried about crimminals getting in as they were them getting away. The real trick would be timing, according to Nicole. We had to get in and out very quickly, which would be tough. The Thieves Blade she had in her bag was essential, of course. Miguel had suggested teleporting us all in with the watch, but Nicole squashed that plan right off by explaining that she still hadn't worked out all the kinks with it yet. I was relieved, since my experiences with it so far hadn't been good. I wasn't looking forward to having my body turned inside out again!

Nicole really wanted to wait another day or two before taking on this mission, but we were all getting really hungry. Even her stomach growled in protest when she brought the subject up! So, with nothing else to really prepare for, we all marched out and across the street into the van. I was beginning to think Nicole was right about us being seen too much in this area. It wasn't exactly densely populated, but there was always a chance we could slip up. I wondered if there wasn't some unused space in the Arcade we could keep the van in, and my mind immediately went to work.

We were all quiet on the drive over to the bank. I really couldn't belive I was actually about to do this, but there was no turning back at this point. We needed money, and I was the only one that really had it. It was going to be very simple, and real easy to do. Those words kept repeating in my head like a mantra as we got out of the van just down the road from the bank. The same old car was still parked where it'd been before. I wanted to ask Miguel or Gabriel if they'd noticed it earlier, but Nicole motioned for us to stop.

"We need cover!" she said, looking back at us. "It's too exposed out here. Gabriel, if you would..."

Gabriel opened his spellbook and began flipping through pages. In a moment, he raised his hand and mumbled something inaudible. There was this strange pulsing in the air, like the very molecules had slammed into one another all at once, and Scooby gave a loud bark. Smoke burst out from his open mouth, filling the space around us with a noxious-looking black cloud. In seconds, I wasn't able to see my hand in front of my face!

"We can still breathe," I heard him whisper. "The smoke is designed only to conceal, not poison."

"Good," I heard Nicole say. "Everyone, grab each other by the hand. Gabriel, how do we find our way through this?"

"Scooby can lead us," he assured her, and I heard the book close next to me. "I'll take hold of him, and lead all of you up to the bank doors."

I felt Miguel's callous-covered hand take mine, and swore under my breath. This had seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to at least be able to touch Nicole without anyone else noticing. I wound up sandwiched between him and Gabriel, who had grabbed Scooby by the scruff of his decomposing neck. Together, we all walked in a line uphill to where the front doors were. Scooby could be heard sniffing the ground in front of us, leading the way. I had to give the dog credit; we didn't run into anything!

Nicole fumbled with the door for a second. Since none of us could see, pressing the Thieves Blade against the lock was pretty much left up to guesswork. Finally, the door gave a click and opened up. The cloud of smoke remained on the outside, not moving at all past the threshold. It looked really weird seeing that, and I almost got distracted for a second.

"You're turn, Miguel," she said, looking back.

"Captain Crash," he corrected, puffing himself up.

"Whatever! Just give me a minute to check the parameter out." Nicole held up the Psychic Spyglass and peered through it, scoping the whole interior of the bank out. After a moment, she slipped it back into the bag and frowned. "Infa-red beams," she explained, shaking her head. "I wasn't expecting that!"

"So we leave?" O-Ren asked, politely.

"Not yet," she said, thinking hard. "Miguel... Captain Crash, can you project force fields yet?"

"I dunno," he admitted. "I've never tried before."

"Do it," she ordered. "We need you to turn yourself invisible and project those infa-red beams away so you can get to the other side and shut them off. Take the Thieves Blade with you, just in case!"

"Right, boss!" he replied, saluting.

"O-Ren," she said, turning around. "Go through the smoke and station yourself across the street on one of the rooftops. We need you to keep watch in case any uninvited company shows up."

"Okay," she said neutrally. "But, how am I supposed to see through that stuff?"

"Take Scooby with you," Gabriel said at once. "The smoke only circles the bank. Once you get across the street, it should be easy enough to find your way."

"Good idea!" Nicole told him. I saw Gabriel blush as he leaded down to whisper in the dog's ear. When O-Ren left with the mastiff leading the way, I looked over at him.

"What did you tell him?"

"To come back the minute he finishes leading her out of the smoke screen."

"Because there might be trouble? Did the tarot cards warn you about something?"

"No," Gabriel said, grinning. "I just like having him around!"

I shook my head and looked away. "You and your pets!"

The lights suddenly came on in the bank. Miguel's voice rang out to us from across the room loud and clear. "I got the lights on!" he cried out. "Oh, and I'm pretty sure the infa-red beams are down, too."

"Good to know," I muttered.

From there, it was a simple stretch to the caged doorway where the vault lay beyond. We didn't bother checking any of the teller booths, since they would have obviously counted and filed away any money there. Miguel looked a little put out when I pointed this out to him, but cheered up considerably when Nicole informed him that his job wasn't over.

"I need him to open the vault for us," she explained, pressing the Thieves Blade to the cage lock. "You start filling out those withdrawl papers. And make it quick! We need to get out of here. I've suddenly got a bad feeling about this place!"

I couldn't help but wonder what the point of being so sneaky was if she were just going to have Miguel tear the vault door off it's hinges, but obediently walked off to do as Nicole asked. Fortunately, I had all of my information with me in one of my pockets. I'd worn my ninja uniform, which took a few seconds to adjust itself around my wallet. It had been uncomfortable at first, but now there was a nicely-shaped outline in my pants that fit it perfectly!

I was about halfway done filling in all the empty slots, when hell abruptly chose to break loose all around me. There was suddenly gunfire, and lots of screaming and yelling from voices I didn't recognize. Part of the wall booth next to me exploded in a shower of shotgun shell fire, and that was all it took. I drew my bo staff out and drove through the window opening. It wasn't until I heard Gabriel cry out, and Nicole screaming for him to get his head back down, that I risked peaking up to see what was happening.

There were four masked figures standing in front of the entrance to the bank, blocking our way out at gun point. None of them were especially tall, and I realized somewhere in the back of my head that they must be teenagers. Gabriel had his book out, and was mumbling again under the rain of bullets. Hands that were covered in slime and had extra-long, claw-like fingernails burst forth from the pages. I heard one of the armed robbers screaming, before making a run for it.

He didn't get far, however. Scooby bound through the opened doors and tackled him head-on. The poor bastard had just enough time to fire off a shot, which landed squarely in the dog's chest, but didn't even slow him down. Scooby began tearing into his flesh, digging and clawing as if looking for buried bones. I saw bits of human things flying through the air, and ducked back down for an entirely different reason.

The hands, meanwhile, were doing a good job of keeping the others preoccupied. Gabriel was really getting the hang of the whole magick deal, I must say! Two of the three remaining robbers had been completely wrapped up, and were now begging him for mercy. If Gabriel heard any of them, though, he didn't let on. The last robber was putting his gun to use by firing on the remaining hands whenver they came close. He didn't seem to notice me anymore.

I took this opportune moment to race like a mad chicken across the space between myself and the others.

"Glad you could make it!" Miguel told me, as I dove behind the desk with them. I ignored him, and looked to Nicole.

"How do we get out of here now?" I asked.

"We don't," she replied, simply. "Not without the money."

I guess my surprise registered on my face, despite it being covered up. "We came all this way, and we're not going to leave empty-handed! Miguel..."

"Captain Crash!" he insisted.

"Shut up!" I told him. "Fine! I'll go and get the money. Wait here!"

What I really wanted to do was stay hidden, but the fact that bullets were no longer whizzing past my ears gave me courage. That, and knowing that the sooner we got the money we needed, the quicker we could all get the fuck out of there! I was actually tempted to take a little more than what was in my account, despite the present danger. The shock of that really got to me, and I slapped myself across the face as punishment. Now was obviously not the time to be greedy!

"Got it!" I cried, exiting the vault room. "Let's go!"

"Captain Crash," she said, looking at Miguel. "You're on!"

Miguel's arms swelled to about three times their size, turning orange and rocky as they did so. I recognized this from before, and hung back as he lifted the desk up over his head and gave it a hard throw. Nicole, it seemed, had been planning for this while I was in back, because everyone got up and ran forward as it sailed through the air. I followed behind, and watched as the desk landed right in front of the last remaining bank robber.

"Hulk smash!" Miguel roared, pounding the tile floor in front of him.

Whatever he'd been hoping to do, it didn't work, unless Nicole's plan revolved around knocking several ugly paintings off the wall. The robber did stop shooting as he got a good look at all of us, and lowered his weapon.

"Miguel?" he said, tugging at the mask covering his face. "Miguel Wright?"

"Uhhh," he stammered. "Do I know you?"

"It's me!" he said, finally managed to yank the mask off his head. "Joshua Higgins! We had fourth period study hall together!"

Regretably, everyone knew Joshua Higgins. He was the one who'd ran off in a stolen car for Texas with two other kids in junior high, making headlines and rallying a interstate search with the cops. Last I'd heard, he was sentenced to juvenile hall until he turned eighteen and could be tried as an adult.

Life had just gotten weirder for all of us!

Again!


	7. Youth Gone Wild: Blood on Blood

Runaways:

Youth Gone Wild

Chapter 2

Blood on Blood

by Ri-kun

"What the hell are you guys doing robbing a bank?!"

I thought that was a pretty damn ironic question. "What the hell are _you _doing robbing it?" I shot right back. "That is what you're doing here, right?"

Joshua began using his gun as a back-scratcher, which struck me as a really bad idea. "Kinda, yeah," he admitted. "But aren't your folks rich?"

I really hate it when people point that fact out. "They're also evil ninja crime lords," I snapped back. "Hence, we are robbing a bank."

"You're parents are... what, now?"

"Boys!" Nicole shot out. "Can we finish this discussion later? I fairly sure the police will be along any second to inquire why we are trespassing, disturbing the peace, destroying public property, and commiting the federal crime of grand larceny!"

"Actually," Joshua spoke up. "It doesn't qualify as grand larceny unless you've taken a minimum of..."

"Run for it!" she screamed, pointing to the way out.

Before we could, though, police sirens began roaring in our ears. Flashing blue lights spilled out into the room, followed by the sound of heavy footsteps. It would seem that our folks had pulled out all the stops! Within seconds, the entrance had been completely blocked off by a mixed squadron of cops, ninjas, and aliens. None of the police were acting like this was really all that strange, which just served to confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that my parents really had fully infiltrated the law. Not that being dragged off by them to the Pride's secret headquarters hadn't been enough proof to start with, however.

The foremost ninja, who seemed to be leading the invading swarm, cocked his head to the side and gave me a funny sort of look through his ninja mask. It almost looked as if he recognized me, I thought.

"Hello, Daniel."

The voice that spoke through it send shock waves up my spine. "Joseph?" I asked, pulling my own mask down.

He did the same, and I found myself staring right into the face of my older brother, Joseph Whittaker. His ninja uniform was an exact replica of mine, the difference being only that it was tailored to match his much more athletic frame. The suit clung to his body as though he'd been poured into it. One of the secret envies I'd always had was that Joseph was in so much better shape than me. It was easy to understand why so many girls went ga-ga over him, aside from the whole 'being evil' part, I mean. I didn't have to like it, but it was easy to understand.

Of course, I'd hated him long before just finding out that he was a part of the Pride.

"I was kind of hoping I wouldn't find you hear," Joseph said to me, wearing the smirk on his face that I always hated seeing.

"I really didn't expect to see you hear, either," I replied as best as I could without shaking. "Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"School's out for me," he said, swinging a bo staff that looked just like mind around. "I ditched classes to come home."

"Dad's money at work," I quipped, bringing my own in front of me.

"You should know. You're stealing some of it!"

"Actually, we're only stealing my money. It's not safe to come out during the day anymore. Too many people are looking for us!"

"Yeah, I kind of heard about that. Seems you and your friends stumbled across something you weren't supposed to learn about just yet. Mom asked if I'd be willing to talk about it with you. She had this idea that you'd listen to me."

I laughed, coldly. "Mom should know better."

"She really should." Joseph struck a pose, and pointed towards me. "You should know, the Hand don't really care if you live or die. Dad hasn't given them the full story, but if you come back with me, we can make all of this work out. I really don't wanna have to hurt you, bro, but that doesn't mean I can't!"

I heard Miguel gasped at the mention of the Hand, whatever that was, but he was a million miles away to me at the moment. "I'm not seven years old anymore," I told him, sounded braver than I really felt. "And you can't hold me down in front of the couch and force me to watch _Gremlins: The New Batch_!"

"Wanna bet?" Joseph flipped around into an elaborate spin and twirled his staff beautifully. "Do you really think I've been away at college all this time?"

"Bring it on!"

"Are you guys gonna stand around and talk all night, or will there actually be any fightin'?"

The cop that spoke got a nasty look from one of the ninja standing just off to the side of Joseph. Reaching into his pocket, he whipped out a silver ball about the size of a marble. I realized what was about to happen just as the ninja threw it, but it was too late to even cry out. The officer burst into flames the moment the ball touched him, leaving behind only his gun and a pile of smoldering bones.

"Any other questions?" Joseph asked, coolly.

"Just one," I heard Gabriel say. "Do any of you have some ketchup?"

That made absolutely no sense to me, until I turned around and saw the rather large, transparent dragon standing behind us all. The thing looked like a ghost, but something in my guts told me it would hurt very bad if those razor-sharp fangs and claws tore into me. I couldn't imagine why Gabriel would want to use any kind of spell like this, but it was too late to debate the issue. The dragon lunged foward to where we were all standing, making us scatter into one another.

"Run away!" I heard Gabriel scream. "And do lots of it!"

He didn't have to tell me twice! I spotted Joshua cowering over in a corner near the door, and spared a moment to snatch him by the front of his shirt and drag him out the front door with us. There was a look of pure wonder in his eyes as we all fled, like he couldn't really believe what he was seeing. Clearly, I had some explaining to do, but it would have to wait!

When had just made it outside when Miguel noticed. "It's not dark anymore!" he said, looking around in confusion.

"Spell... wore off!" Gabriel gasped, collapsing to the ground. "Couldn't... maintain that... much!"

He looked like he was going to puke, and while it would have been nice to have somebody else take up that mantle, I really hoped he could hold his lunch in for a little bit longer until we made our getaway. Assuming, of course, we had a getaway plan!

"It's my fault," Nicole said, moaning. "I told him to do something really big that would distract them! Wait, where's O-Ren?"

O-Ren's location became clear a moment later. The ninjas were suddenly all around us, and I don't mean like in a quick-movement sort of way. They were just there, appearing in a cloud of smoke like off of Darkwing Duck! I nearly expected a monologue to follow, but it didn't.

"Cool!" Miguel said. "How did they managed that?"

"Beats me!"

"Boys!" Nicole hissed. "Later! We've got to get out of here, and fast."

One made a moment like he was going to approach Nicole, but fell flat on his face before finishing the first step. A smoking hole lay open where his chest had been; something had blown a hole straight through his heart, taking the whole thing with it! Another ninja fell, this time without his head, which was missing the bottom half as it rolled past us and into the street. Suddenly, it was raining yellow energy blasts all around us, somehow only hitting the ninjas in red. It seemed that O-Ren had remained true to her post, and was living up to her codename with great relish!

"Way to go, O-Ren!" Miguel cried out, as we made a dash for the van. "Remind me to kiss that woman later on."

"She'd break both of your legs if you tried!" I told him, jumping in back. "Come on, Joseph. We're leaving!"

"You don't have to tell me twice," he grinning, coming up behind me.

"Hold it!" Nicole cried. "Who said he was coming?"

There was about two seconds of absolute quiet. "If we leave him here," I said, gravely. "The Pride will kill him. Or worse, torture him until he gives them everything he knows about us. It's safer for us all if he comes with!"

"Come on, then," she relented, after a moment. "But hurry! We can't be caught here, and O-Ren is still up on the roof!"

The dragon had escaped from the bank interior by the time we drove around. Miguel steered out of it's way just as a panicked O-Ren came running out into the street, flagging us down. The van spun, tires squealed in severe protest, and the door swung open on it's own just as we came to a stop right alongside her. O-Ren opened her eyes to see all of us sitting there looking at her expectantly. Without so much as a comment on Miguel's driving skills, she hopped in and slammed the door shut behind her.

"Drive!" she pleaded, as the dragon let out a roar.

For once, Miguel wasn't in a mood to argue with her. He peeled the van out of there just as the beast brought down a very heavy and taloned foot in the spot where we'd only been seconds before. I fell out of my seat as O-Ren tipped over backwards next to Joshua. Looking at him, she blinked a couple of times before extending a hand.

"O-Ren Wong," she introduced herself, uncharacteristically. "Nice to meet you."

"It's a pleasure," Joshua replied, taking the hand offered to him carefully in his. "I'm Joshua Higgins."

"Now, who the fuck are you and what are you doing here with us?"

That sounded more like O-Ren. "These guys caught me robbing the same bank they were, and let me come along when the cops showed up. Thanks for that, by the way. I really appreciate it."

"We never said we were letting you come along," Nicole counted in a cold voice. "First of all, just what are you doing here? I thought they put you away for good!"

Joshua looked at her in a way that I didn't like. "Still mad because I left?" he said softly.

"That was back in junior high," she replied. "I'm over you by now."

WHAT?!

"Sounds like it," he noted, smugly. I was already regretting taking him along. "So, what's led Meridian's finest honor student to a life of crime?"

"Our parents are evil supervillains," Miguel answered unabashedly. "We found out they're part of this secret conspiracy group called the Pride, and now they want to drag us back home and brainwash us so we'll forget until we all turn eighteen."

Joshua blinked. "Oh, okay. That makes perfect sense."

"He's telling the truth," I muttered, suddenly very angry. "Our youth minister is a time traveling serial killer and possible theif. We're not sure on the last part, but each of our parents are involved."

"I know," he said, calmly. "I've know for a long time now, actually."

Each and every one of us looked at him, including Miguel, who nearly sent the van straight into a bread truck as a result. Nicole gave him a very stern lecture about watching the road, before turning back around to glare at Joshua. I really enjoyed seeing the look she was giving him.

"Explain," she demanded. "And no funny stuff!"

Joshua actually looked hurt. "Why do you think I left you?" he said in a soft voice. "Why do you think my friends and I stole that money and made tracks for Texas? Did you really believe it was just a stupid joyride, like everybody else said?" I wanted to choke him as the tears came into his eyes. "Nick," he whispered. "I loved you!"

It was becoming very uncomfortable in there all of a sudden. We all felt like we were trespassing on what should have been a private conversation, but that didn't stop me from wanting to hear more. I felt like it was my business to, despite not having a good reason! Just exactly when had Nicole and Joshua dated? And why in the name of all that was Tolkien was she letting him call her 'Nick'?! Nicole hated that name! I had known that much on great authority for years!

"You know about our family?" O-Ren pressed, breaking up the love fest. "About our parents? About the Pride!"

"I didn't know they were called the Pride," he admitted, looking suddenly uncomfortable. "But the guys and I have known for years now that something rotten controlled stuff here in Meridian. And most everywhere else, too! That's why we were headed for Texas. My buddy had this uncle that was in tight with the mob. We though he might give us protection if we turned over the money to him."

"Two thousand dollars in exchange for protection," O-Ren scoffed. "Even I think that sounds weak!"

"It wasn't two grand," he corrected. "It was two _hundred_ grand! We stumbled upon it by accident, and somebody wanted us dead for it. It think they must've thought we knew more than we did. Either way, it got clear real quick that we needed to make a run for it. That's why I've spent the last few years in prison."

"I thought you were sent to a juvenile hall for delinquent offenders," I threw in. My voice sounded really nasty, even to me.

"On the surface, it is," he said, looking down. I really felt bad suddenly for the way I sounded.

"Lots of bad stuff goes down in there. And I don't mean regular prison shit, either! There's something really foul in that place, something that everybody is afraid to talk about! My buds and I decided to make a run for it, but we ran out of cash real quick. The only place left to go was here in town, but we can't stay here for long. If they find out I came back, they'll..."

I would have liked to hear what our parents would have done to him. It would've appeased the angry demon lurking in my chest at the moment, crying out for Joshua's head to delivered on a platter. We never got to learn, though, because a blast of something off to the right threw the van clear off the road, and us along with it. The machine bounced and crunched like a sardine can, coming to a stop only after completing a very convincing impersonation of a laundromat dryer on spin cycle. My mind was screaming at me a mile a minute, telling me to run like hell. They had found us, and we'd all been caught with our pants down way past the ankles!

I might have run in that moment. I would've left everyone behind just to get away, and it shames me now to remember that. I couldn't run, though, because I had no way of knowing which way was up. My sense of direction had been fucked over with a toilet brush! Everything was going black, and I realized too late that I was passing out.

The trouble was, this was the best sleep I'd had since this whole mess started!

Time ceased to exist for me. I had a wonderful dream in the blissful space of unconsciousness; my mom and dad were home as I came in from school. Joseph had come home early for Christmas, and we were all going to open presents early. Grandma had even stopped by, and she brought cookies, something I hadn't seen her do since she died when I was four. Gabriel was allowed to come over and sit with us. His parents had left him alone at his house.

Then the house got real cold. It was suddenly dark, and snow was falling outside the living room window. The snow then moved to the indoors, coating the furniture and coffee table in a thick, white blanket. I was standing there, wondering how I was going to clean all this up, when Joseph handed me a broom and dustpan. He was going out with his two girlfriends, a pair of siamese twins from Japan, and leaving me behind to do all the work.

I felt like Cinderella, having to sweep up while everyone else was going off to have a good time. Then, my fairy godmother showed up, only it was Gabriel again. He held open this thick book that smelled like an old corpse, and whispered something familiar I couldn't quiet recognize. He turned our dead dog into a carriage for me to ride in, so I could go pick up Nicole for the senior prom. She and I were nominated for king and queen, so we had to be there. Only, the carriage looked more like a hearse from that Headless Horseman movie, and the horses drawing it were skeletons that breathed fire.

I was trying to explain to him how I couldn't pick up Nicole in that, when he told me that Joshua was taking her in my place, since I'd waited to long to ask her out. I was going to have to go with O-Ren instead. O-Ren, and her bazooka, which was currently leveled at my chest. She fired...

And I woke up.

Thank God!

"Glad to see you're awake," Nicole whispered to me from my left.

I tried to raise up, only to learn that somebody had strapped me to a table right out of Frankenstein's laboratory. I glanced over as far as I could to the left, and saw she'd been given the same royal treatment.

"How long was I out?" I asked her. My voice sounded weak, so I tried again.

Must sound more macho in these situations. The Man Code would not be violated!

"How long was I out?" I asked again.

"About an hour, I think," she said, looking worried. "You were moaning a lot in your sleep, and talking about something to do with a..."

I really hoped I hadn't been prolific. "I was having... a nightmare," I told her. "Nothing important. Just weird stuff that didn't make any sense."

I began to take note of my surroundings, if only to have something else to talk about. The room was circular, and filled to the brink with equipment that belonged on the set of Star Wars. Consoles practically made up the walls of the room, and there were blinking lights everywhere. I was suddenly very glad that I'd never seen the original footage of Pikachu's attack from that episode of Pokemon that gave all those elementary kids seizures, because it felt like one was on its way!

And I thought the bathroom light at my house had been bad!

"Where are we?" I wondered. "This looks like..."

"We're at my house," Nicole interrupted, sounding very embarassed. "At least, we're underneath it. My parents were the ones who staged the attack on the van. They brought some of the kids with them, in case we tried to fight back. Everyone was knocked out, though, so they brought us here until the rest of the Pride shows up."

"They told you all of this?"

Nicole looked, if possible, even more ashamed. "My mom," she mumbled, looking as far away from me as the neck apparatus would allow. "Likes to talk about her kids."

"The mutants?" I pressed, wanting to know more. "They take in mutants, right? Teach them how to control their powers."

"Not just to control them, obviously," she grumbled.

The door in front of us slid open. Nicole's mom walked in with a very calm expression on her face as she strolled right up to us, like we were sitting in her living room, and I was there to take Nicole on a date. I should have been so lucky!

Then again, for all I knew, this really was Nicole's living room. She'd never invited me over before, so it was possible!

"Well, young lady," Diane said. I could hear a lecture coming already. "You've managed to cause quite a stir this time! Always trying to get our attention, when there was never any need to start with."

"It's your own fault," Nicole replied, bravely. "You used to tell me all the time, 'Well-behaved women rarely make history.'"

"You read that off a coffee mug in Earthbound, dear," she responded, checking one of the monitors nearby. "I used to tell you to brush your hair every night before you go to bed, or else you'd wind up with split ends."

"You got it wrong, then. My hair is flawless!"

Diane promptly strode over and took hold of a lock of her daughter's hair, then narrowed her eyes disapprovingly. "You really need to use conditioner," she scolded. "It would help bring out the natural highlights so much better."

Nicole rolled her eyes. "Could we please cut the crap, mother?!"

I was having a hard time believing this conversation myself. It sounded like the sort of thing you'd read in comic books, except that Miguel read more of those than I ever would. Diane took Nicole by the chin and dragged her face towards her. Their eyes met, and I could honestly feel the anger burning from Nicole towards her.

"You took my powers from me," she hissed, bitterly. "You told me for years that I was a flatscan! Do either of you have any idea what it was like living here with you? Everyday was like being in a prison! All the kids used to make fun of me behind my back, calling me all sorts of names! I hated it, and I hate you!"

Diane sighed. "Try not to be so dramatic, dear. It's not becoming of you! And I should think your old friend from your junior high school days would know more about prison life than you do. Your father and I thought we'd seen the end of your rebellious days. We both knew he was going to be trouble."

"Don't talk about him!" she shrilled, fighting to get loose. "And what have you done with Joshua?"

I really didn't want to hear this part. "He's safe," Diane assured her, checking her daughter's vital signs. "If you're good, we might even allow you to visit for a little bit. After we've confirmed a few things about him."

"Like whether he's a mutant?" she challenged. "If he is, will that help him live longer? Or, is dad going to give his brain a lobotomy like the rest of the Pride wants to do with us?"

Diane looked at her. "Your father means well," she said, stiffly. "He doesn't want to harm any of you more than necessity requires. I..."

"He's cheating on you, you know."

The bomb came from out of nowhere so abruptly, I wasn't sure I'd heard her right. Diane's face narrowed dangerously, but it wasn't enough to stop Nicole. She was raised up off the table with a look of such rage that it shocked me to my core. I'd never imagined I would live to see that sort of look on her face.

"I know," Nicole went on. "I overheard one of the cheerleaders talking about it. She just couldn't shut her mouth up about all the things dad had done to her in his office at school! She was bragging that she'd never have to worry about getting expelled, or failing a class, so long as she kept her legs spread for him! Why do you think I was sent home that day for fighting? I must've knocked out two of her teeth with that punch!"

I'd never heard that!

"Marriage doesn't always turn out to be what you thought it would be," her mother whispered softly

Diane looked at Nicole for a long time, and I had the feeling she wasn't really aware of me being in the room anymore. This would have been an excellent time to come up with a daring, James Bond-like escape plan, and put it into action. One that cleverly involved me seducing Nicole into a fit of unbridled passion the moment we were both free, of course! My mind, however, was drawing a total blank. I wasn't even coming up with one that didn't have kinky sex in it at any point in time, in fact!

It was becoming remarkably clear why Nicole had preferred Joshua to me all those years ago. I was surprised my older brother hadn't snatched her up as one of his conquests, but then, she was probably too young for his tastes. I was doing such a good job of feeling sorry for myself that it didn't entirely register when Nicole's shoes exploded right out from under her. The table rocked right off it's foundations, and sent her flying back into a wall behind us. There was a shower of sparks, the smell of smoke, and Diane screaming at the top of her lungs in fear. Then, the sound of flesh hitting bone filled the air, and Nicole's mother came sprawling back into my line of sight, staggering like she'd been decked by a prize fighter off of Ultimate Championship Fighters.

My mouth dropped open as Nicole came back into view, clutching her right hand in pain as she undid the straps that held me down. "Did you just..." I stammered, pointing to where her mother was now lying motionless. "I mean..."

"Later!" she said, looking around desperately. "We need to find the others and get out of here! Do you know where my bag of tricks is?"

I looked, but didn't see it. "They must've put it somewhere else," I said, apologetically. "What... how were you able to get loose like that?"

"Jackrabbit sneakers," she said, absentmindedly. "Another one of Jeff's little toys. Where could they have taken the others?"

"Just how much stuff did you take from his basement?!"

"The basement," she repeated, and I knew she wasn't paying attention to me anymore. "We're in the basement right now. This is the medical room, and there are four more on this level. They would've put all of us here, since the Negation Room only works on mutants with the X-gene. Which means the others are probably on this floor!"

I followed after her, noticing as I did that my staff and jet hoverboard were missing, as well. It sounded stupid, but I felt very naked without either of them with me. They were my only real source of power, not that I'd proven really capable with either of them. It was just as well that Joseph and I hadn't gotten into it back at the bank. He'd have wiped the floor with me, and that alone would've been bad enough. Having all my friends plus Nicole there to witness my humiliating defeat...

I was really in the mood for a pity party by the time we found the others. O-Ren and Gabriel were strapped down the same way she and I had been. It took just a few seconds to free them, but neither knew where our gear had been taken to.

"I slipped the boots on before they got to the van," Nicole explained. "There wasn't enough time to take out anything else, and I figured they'd have me searched before we all got here. My parents couldn't have taken any of it very far. The trouble is, there's plenty of rooms down here that could hold stuff like that, and we don't have time to search them all! They're going to come looking for us soon."

An alarm sounded, which could only mean one thing. "They're looking for us," I said, flatly.

"Right," she nodded. "We need to move fast. Finding the others is our top priority!"

I tried to tell myself that her concern had nothing to do with Joshua being here with us, but the memory of the way she looked when he'd told her that he loved her kept flashing in front of my eyes. I was loosing focus rapidly, and that wasn't a good sign. We were all in the most danger we'd come across since first running away from home. There was no time to worry about my own personal hang-ups. I resolved from that moment on to keep my head in the game, and not spend anymore time getting distracted. Mistakes like freaking in the middle of a shoot-out back at the bank weren't an option from this point on.

I would have to be strong, no matter what the consequences!

I came into the room where Miguel and Joshua were being held first. There was about a split-second pause where my brain registered that something wasn't quite right. I saw Miguel lying unconscious at Joshua's feet. Neither of them were strapped down on the tables, but there was blood all over Joshua's wrists. He was also holding what looked like O-Ren's metamorph gun, and had it pointed at me. Then, blue lightning came flying out of it, and I was lifted up off the floor into the air.

"Joshua!" Nicole screamed, somewhere off in the distance. This was going to be the second time in less than an hour that I'd passed out, which was completely unacceptable! I gathered together every last ounce of will in my body, and forced myself to remain awake. I could at least watch what was happening!

Which, as I thought about it, could only be worse than loosing my grip on reality and missing the whole entire nightmare.

Man, I really had some fucked up reasoning.

Joshua had aimed the gun at everyone else, meanwhile, and was laughing the entire time. I got the suspicion then that this whole story about being on the run from the Pride, and robbing a bank for money to escape them had been one bold-faced lie. What he said next didn't help discourage my little conspiracy theory, either.

"Shit, I really had you all played out like a harp, didn't I?!"

Nicole didn't look very happy from my position near the table. "You lied to me," she stated, painfully. "Again! All this time, all that crap about being sent away because you knew too much, and being kept in a place were bad things were happening..."

"First rule of lying," he interrupted, holding up a finger. "The best way to lie is to let other people do the talking for you! And always give a little bit of the truth, if you can. That makes it all the more believeable!"

"You undeniable bastard!" O-Ren spat. I was finding myself agreeing with her more and more lately. "You had us all believing that..."

"That you're stupid little story about supervillian parents concerned me one bit? Please! I might not know what exactly is going on here, but even a place as fucked up as this can't convince me that something as idiotic as a group of allied villains controlling Meridian. Just what sort of moron do you take me for?"

"I'm glad that's a retorical question."

"Shut the fuck up!" Joshua barked, and I could tell he was aiming the gun at Gabriel now. I tried getting back up, I really did, but my body just didn't want to move the way it was supposed to. I was going to die here, but first I'd have the pleasure of knowing that I let my friends down first. I was being allowed to watch as someone I'd foolishly trusted murdered us all! When it came to stupid moves, I really could take the cake.

Miguel was stirring not far away. I saw the flicker of movement out the corner of my eye, and realized he was raising his hand up ever so slightly. The fingers were pointed at Joshua's backside; he couldn't see what was happening. I really didn't know what was about to happen either, but there was a gleam of determinatin I'd never witnessed before in Miguel's eyes. He opened his mouth as his hand began to tremble, and something made Joshua whirl around. There wasn't enough time for him to raise the gun up and fire, though. Miguel was two steps ahead of him.

"Flame on," he whispered, weakly.

Fire exploded outward, and I mean it when I say that it _burned_! All the air in the room suddenly became unbreathable. Everyone was coughing and gasping like they'd been hit with poisonous gas, but it was really just the flames coming from Miguel's outstretched hand. I mean, they really were that hot!

Joshua took the entire brunt of it. His body was caught up in a miniature storm of white-hot fury that send the gun flying out from his hands. O-Ren caught it in mid-air, but then dropped it in the next second, crying out in pain. The metamorph gun wasn't damaged in the slightest bit, but the metal had become super-hot, apparently. Joshua, meanwhile, was stumbling all over the place, knocking things off and setting the whole room ablaze. Alarms were flashing left and right, setting off the sprinkler system. Everyone took cover as Joshua came back towards them, still on fire despite the water raining down on us all now.

Miguel's hand fell to the floor in a puddle that formed directly beneath it. His eyes closed as his breathing became shallow; his last heroic act before passing out had been an attempt to save us all. I felt a sudden gratitude fill me as my mind was flooded with memories of how much I'd disliked him before. It seems I'd been too quick to judge.

All of this happened within the space of a few seconds. My mind was either racing to keep up with it all, or slowing everything down so that it could process the important parts. I looked over at Joshua, who was still burning nearby. The sprinkler system had made the fires die down, but they were far from put out yet. Parts of his body had been burned all the way down to the bone, leaving areas I never wanted to see exposed to air. It didn't seem to have slowed him down any, however. In fact, Joshua looked very far from death's door at the moment. He was bearing down on all of us with a crazed, manic look in what was left of his one good eye.

I nearly threw up.

"You think something like this can stop me!?" he howled, tossing his head back up at the ceiling. "You don't know what those monsters did to all of us. Can't you tell by now that I can't die. I can feel it growing inside of me, just like the others. They did the same thing to them, and soon, it's going to come out of us. I won't even be me anymore, so none of this matters! Do you fucking hear me?!"

"NONE OF THIS MATTERS!"

Joshua's body lurched, and I thought perhaps that I'd begun hallucinating from the last couple of days. It should have occured to me that something along those lines would be far too simple. Our lives were much more complicated than that! Wings sprouted out of his back, and I'm talking about the ones that come from insects. So did these long feeler-type thingies that made this horrible clicking sound. I was suddenly wishing that I could just pass out, or begin hallucinating.

His whole body changed, then. Joshua was gone, and in his place stood this grotesque monster-insect from outer space! I don't know what made me think that, other than my mind not wanting to believe that anything this horrible could live on earth! It kept right on making that clicking sound as it strode over to where Nicole was laying. She screamed as it picked her up off the ground effortlessly, and that one act kicked my body into high gear. Nothing was going to hurt her so long as I was still breathing. I stood up, swaying a little, but able to walk. The thing must've heard me coming, though, and whirled around to meet me charging it with a raised claw.

I was sent flying across the room, but got right back up. There was still life in me, and that meant I could do at least one thing right tonight! The creature was tough, and it's outer layer of skin felt like armor. If it really was like other insects, then that meant...

That meant I should've paid more attention in biology. I tried tackling it again, if only to make it drop Nicole, but that was a no-go. I was thrown back again, and this time it hurt a lot more. I had maybe one more good one left, and then it would be lights out again. I had to make it count, for all our sakes. Something told me that thing wouldn't stop with her, but she would've been more than enough! I braced myself , ready to give this last one my all, but someone beat me to it.

An ugly green and yellowish cloud surrounded the creature, filling the room with a putrid stench that would've put the locker room toilets in our gym class to shame by a mile! The cloud concentrated itself on the monster, who howled in pain and let go of Nicole at once. I looked over and found Gabriel crouched low to the ground. The book was open in front of him, and he had both arms out, casting a chant.

The creature stumbled backwards, and Gab took the initative. Doing a cool sort of rolling crouch, he tumbled forward to where O-Ren's metamorph gun still lay, and snatched the thing up. If the metal was still hot, he gave no sign of it. Switching it to a form I'd never seen before, he opened fire on the thing with all his might. The monster was thrown back into the wall with a sickening crunch. The sound made me shudder involuntarily, but Gabriel kept right on firing. He unloaded every last bit of power that thing carried, until the gun made a sort of pitiful whine and shut down. By that point, there wasn't much left but a disgusting smear on the wall, and twitching parts scatter all about near it.

I did not throw up. At the very least, I would not throw up!

Damn it!

"You saved me," Nicole said. She actually sounded like your typical anime-heroine after the mysterious hero comes charging in to the rescue. I wished then that the monster could've at least done the courtesy of devouring my body whole so that I didn't have to hear this. The night couldn't possibly get any worse! I challenged fate then and there to try and come up with something more heart-wrenching than this moment.

Which was probably not a smart idea.

"What was... that?" she gestured, waving at the air with one hand while the other pinched her nose tightly.

"Noxious Cloud," he said, looking embarassed. "Sorry about that, but it was the only think I could think of that might work. Insects are sensitive to smells, so I figured a spell to affect it's sense of..."

"They aren't the only ones!" O-Ren cut in, taking the gun from him. "Damn! This room smells horrible. Let's just get out of here!"

"Good idea," she said. "Someone will have to help carry Miguel, though."

"I'll do it," I said. O-Ren silently walked over to help me; her gun was of no use to her, so she slung it over her should haphazardly and grabbed Miguel's other arm.

"He's heavy," she noted, struggling with his weight. "No more candy bars for him!"

"No more candy bars for all of us," Nicole said, proudly. "The money is still here in this sack! And so is all the rest of our gear. We can finally get out of here!"

"We need to find Scooby," Gabriel said, then added quietly, "Please. I don't want to leave without him."

"Can't you call him to you?" Nicole suggested. "I mean, I guessed that there's some kind of magickal connection between the two of you, since you were the one who said the spell that raised him."

Gabriel looked up at her thoughtfully, then closed his eyes in concentration. There was this horrible crashing noise, like the sound of metal scraping against metal over and over again. Something came crashing to the ground out in the hallway, and a whole new set of alarms went off. Seconds later, Scooby was waiting expectantly in the doorway, as if waiting for us to follow him.

"I think he wants us to follow him," Gabriel said, out loud. "He might know a way out of here."

"How?" O-Ren wondered, stumbling to where I had to catch her, which made us both drop Miguel.

"I hope he doesn't remember that!" I said, sadly. "He did try to save us, after all."

"And nearly burned us all to death!" It would seem that O-Ren was getting back to her old self. Her eyes met Nicole's for a moment, and she actually turned pink a little.

"Thanks," O-Ren mumbled, picking Miguel up off the floor. "For stopping to get me back there. I wasn't sure at first... you know! If you guys were really going to leave me behind or not. Especially after what I said, and all."

"We're in this together," Nicole said, putting an arm around her friend reassuringly. "We don't leave one of our own behind."

"Unless they turn out to be murdering insects in disguise!" I added, then turned serious. "Sorry about that. I know it's a lame way of putting it, but you were right to want to leave him behind. None of this would've happened if I hadn't..."

"Forget it!" she replied, shaking her head. "It was the right thing to do at the time. We have to keep remembering things like that, or we'll just wind up being as bad as our parents are. Doing the right thing should never be a mistake, okay?"

I smiled, but wasn't feeling up to it. "Thanks."

Scooby led Gabriel and the rest of us to a hanger. Nicole wasn't surprised to see one there, but swore she'd never known a place like this existed underneath her house. There were several different types of vehicles just waiting there for the taking, but we quickly settled on the jeep. It was big enough for all of us, and could travel off road without needing all new shocks afterwards. Since our resident mechanic was still out from doing his impersonation of a firefly, that seemed especially important.

Unsurprisingly, O-Ren was able to hotwire this vehicle, too! We all made it back in one piece. It was a long trip home, since Nicole's house was actually pretty far out in the more rual area of the city. She made us take several detours to shake off anyone that might be following us, and took the jeep all the way to the other side of town away from the Arcade so O-Ren could dismantle the GPS tracker, and every other device not crucial to it running. I was at last able to do something useful by pointing out that we could stash the jeep in the unused garage where they once housed all the go-carts. Getting it through the fence wasn't easy, but it was all worth it the minute Nicole smiled at me and said that it was a brilliant idea.

That alone made me feel like I hadn't been a total screw-up.

I went to bed the moment we got settled in. The adrenaline had staved off my hunger for the moment, and I pleaded to be excused from any further discussions on what the money might be used for until morning. Nobody complained; I think they were just as exhaused it. It was the darnedest thing, but I had another dream after I fell asleep that night. I was somehow back at the base underneath Nicole's house. Her mother was there, sporting a nasty bruise on the side of her face, along with Miguel's mother.

"We studied the analysis your husband sent to us," she said, looking grim. "The news isn't good."

"I suspected it wouldn't be," Diane replied. "The question remains, how bad is it?"

Miguel's mother paused. "Do you know anything at all about the Brood? They are among the most foul of all beings that inhabit the universe. Even some of the most despited and hated races across the galaxy consider them the worst of the worst. They are a parasitic race, respawning by inserting an insect-like fetus into a host. The parasite feeds off it's victim, who remains largely unaware of what is in store for it. Once it has been sufficently nurished, the Brood spawn takes over it's host's DNA completely, leaving nothing behind. I understand... that the experience is quite gruesome, even for those that witness such an even."

"Are you suggesting," a voice said from behind them, and I somehow was able to see that it was Gabriel's mom.

"Are you suggesting," she said again, more firmly. "That our children were able to take down a being such as that by themselves?"

"The cameras were damaged by the host, as she put it," Diane said, pointing to Miguel's mom. "Before the fight really even began. Her son was injured, but it didn't appear too serious. The Brood, however, was completely decimated, so I would have to wager a guess that... Yes, they did!"

Silence filled the room. Each woman looked over to the next, and something began to fill the air between them. An odd sort of smile covered each face one after the other, until all three women were looking at one another with an impossible grin on their face.

"You feel it too, don't you?" said Gabriel's mother, joyously.

"Indeed, I do," Diane answered, her eyes shining with excitement. "Pride!"

_Pride?!_


	8. Youth Gone Wild: Hey, God!

Runaways:

Youth Gone Wild

Chapter 3

Hey, God!

by Ri-kun

We were all tired, especially me from the weird dreams I kept having all through the night. Morning still came, and it was time to decide what we were going to do with the money we'd stolen, but not stolen. There were several problems I think nobody else had thought of. We needed food, but were low on places to store it. We didn't have a refrigerator or a freezer, so meat and tv dinners were out. Anything that could go bad overnight, or spoil after a couple of days if it didn't stay cool was immediately taken off the list. Nobody was happy with me when I pointed it out, but it was still a fact. I guess I couldn't really blame them, though a secret part of me wanted to.

I think it was just the weight of yesterday bearing down on us. We'd survived several close-calls by the skin of our teeth, but only through a combination of luck and quick thinking. Frankly, I was scared shitless by this point. A very big part of my brain was telling me to go back to sleep, and never set foot out of the Arcade again! Just hide here for the rest of my life, slowly wasting away from starvation and not going to the bathroom regularly.

I was never very good at beating hunger, though. My stomach won out over all these arguments simply by growling loudly. It wasn't the only internal organ making it's presence known in our circle, so finally Nicole stood up and told me to be ready in fifteen minutes. I was actually a little confused, until she explained that not everyone would be going. We were to each write down ten things that we wanted. None of it could be outside the five basic food groups. Once that was done, she and I would take the jeep to a convenience store and stock up. This way, there was no danger of us all being captured in case something went wrong. And, if it did, there was a contengency team to rescue us!

"I'll need to nominate a second-in-command," she said thoughtfully, looking around. "Just in case."

Miguel's hand at once shot up in the air. He was bouncing up and down in his seat like a kindergardener trying to get the teacher's attention. I couldn't help but snicker a little, despite my chest feeling like it was wrapped in iron. Nicole promptly ignored him; instead, her eyes danced between Gabriel and O-Ren. I noticed she stared at Gabriel's face for a lot longer, which served the purpose of destroying my appetite.

"O-Ren," she said finally, looking to her best friend. "If something happens to us, you lead the team. Don't do anything reckless, but we may need you to come and rescue us. If we're not back in three hours time, that means something has gone wrong. And remember, our parents are looking for us so they can erase our memories. When you do locate us, there's a chance, however slim, that we may not recognize you!"

"Way to inspire the troops, general!" she quipped, but nodded in seriousness.

Miguel glared at her with his lower lip stuck out in a pout. No one paid him any attention.

I followed Nicole out the back entrance, and together we snuck along through the shadows to the go-cart shed. The jeep was just sitting there, looking very out of place stashed between a bunch of old maintenance equipment. There were also a lot of bathroom cleaner chemicals sitting on the ground half-empty. I couldn't help but wonder what they were doing there, and asked Nicole about it.

"Drugs, probably," she replied calmly, getting into the driver's seat. "A place like this would be ideal for mixing up crystal meth, since nobody ever comes near it."

That got me to thinking! "We might should put some homemade alarms around the parameter, in case some half-crazed drug pusher shows up. It wouldn't have to be anything real complicated. Some tin cans on a string might make enough noise."

The moment I said it, it sounded stupid. Nicole nodded approvingly, however, without taking her eyes off the road. "Good idea," she mused, turning left. "I'll ask O-Ren about it when we get back. She might have a couple of other ideas, too! She can help you with it, unless you'd rather it be someone else?"

She made it a question, like it was all up to me. "I don't mind," I said, shrugging. "I really don't mind her at all!"

That got her to smile a little bit. "I'm glad. I know she's not the easiest person to get along with, but O-Ren really isn't a bad person. She's just had a really tough life. Her parents were way hard on her even before we found out about..."

"The mad inventor part?" I finished, suggestively.

"Exactly!" Nicole was quiet for a moment, then went on. "I think her parents never gave her enough credit. She never got top grades in any class, or did the sort of stuff that made her stand out. They wanted a trophy child, and instead wound up caring for the poster girl for antisocial behavior! I suppose that's why we get along so well."

"You always seemed to fit in real well," I countered.

"Yeah, well... Live and learn!"

The rest of the trip was very quiet. I really didn't mind just sitting in the jeep with her; it was nice to finally be alone with Nicole for a while, and not have people trying to blow us up! I wanted to say something to her more than once, though. It seemed really important, but I couldn't think of anything. I wanted to tell her how I felt. I also wanted her to know how impressed I was with her for taking care of us the way she had, and how sorry I was for being such a lame dumbass the last few times the shit had hit the fan!

I wanted to say something, but my brain drew a blank. So, to avoid making things worse, I kept my mouth tightly shut. It seemed like I couldn't do any damage that way, at least. But a tiny voice whispered in my ear that this could be the last time I ever would get the chance. What troubled me the most was, given the way things were going, it might not be wrong!

I hoped, but hope was in short supply at the moment.

I hadn't been paying attention to where we were going. Nicole explained she was taking us all the way out to Dekalb, which was about a half hour away. I knew where it was, but had never been there. Dekalb was this microscopic hick town way out in the middle of nowhere. She thought that we'd stand less of a chance being recognized in a place like that. It sounded good to me, so I didn't object. After what I'd seen last night, thought, I wasn't sure I wanted to!

We stopped at this little service station that had a grocery store built into it. Nicole and I both got out, with a hundred dollars each, and loaded up with as much as our arms could carry back to the register. Maybe it was my imagination, but it felt like we were being watched the whole time. More than one person looked up to stare at me strangely. Being in there made me very uncomfortable. Of course, it could've just been that I was still wearing the ninja uniform. That could've done it.

It occured to me then that walking out in public wearing something as conspicious as a red ninja outfit in central Mississippi was just as good as sending up a road flare with a banner attached to it saying, "Hi, mom and dad! I'm over here! Come and kill us!"

Luckily, we got out of there, but I was kicking myself mentally all the way back to the jeep. We threw the stuff into the back, and drove out of there. I think Nicole had been picking up the same vibe as me.

"Nicole," I said quietly. "I... I'm really sorry!"

"About what?" she asked, speeding through a four-way stop.

"I forgot to take off the ninja outfit! It's the only clothes I've got, and I slept in them last night, but there was nothing at the Arcade for me to change in. Although, now that I think about it, Miguel might've let me borrow his clothes until we got back! And..."

I took a deep breath. "I'm really sorry about screwing up at the bank yesterday. I was totally useless back then, and not just there, either. I couldn't do anything to help you when Joshua turned into that creepy bug monster alien! Gabriel was the one who saved you, and..."

"You couldn't have done anything," she interrupted, giving me a hard look. I wanted to ask her to please watch the road, but resisted. Now didn't seem like the right time for that, and the fire in her eyes told me to keep quiet.

"That thing was strong," she went on. "I couldn't break it's grip at all. Miguel set it on fire while it was still in Joshua's body, and it didn't even slow him down! You felt how hot that fire was coming from him. It nearly burned all of us up from a distance! If that couldn't stop him, there wasn't much else that would."

"But Gabriel did," I pointed out. "And it was my fault in the first place. You didn't want him there with us, but I really believed him when he said he was running from the Pride."

Nicole's hands tightened on the wheel. "Gabriel thought quickly," she said slowly. "And I didn't want him there for... a completely different reason."

I almost didn't say what came next. "Why?" I asked her. "What happened between you two?"

Nicole sighed, and at first I thought she wasn't going to tell me. "Joshua Higgins," she began, reluctantly. "Was there during a time when I was doing everything in my power to drive my parents crazy. He had a lot of good ideas for doing that, plus my dad didn't like him one bit! I was embarassed to be seen with him in public, but when we were alone..."

This part I could do without hearing. Thankfully, Nicole spared me! "I'm not really sure if we were even a couple or not. To this day, that part of my life confuses me! I knew he slept around with other girls. A part of me tried to tell myself that it didn't matter, but when he left, I was relieved. Him running away saved me the trouble of throwing him out the door."

"I... think I understand," I told her. "I mean, I never dated anyone just to make my parents mad, but there was this one girl."

Nicole looked at me, interested. "Really? Who?"

"She..." I paused, thinking hard. A lot of this story revolved around Nicole herself, though she probably didn't realize it. I was going to have to pick my words very carefully, something I wasn't always good at!

"I started dating this girl not too long ago. She was really just an excuse to forget about someone else I'd been crushing on for a long time. I thought that, if I tried dating someone else, the crush would go away. It didn't, and..."

This part was really embarassing! "She... left me for another girl."

Nicole's eyes flared open. "What?"

"Please don't laugh," I begged. "It was not a very confidence-building moment in my life!"

"I won't," she assured me, without a trace of laughter in her voice. "Who was the other girl?"

Oh, boy! "What other girl?"

"The one you had a crush on. The one you were trying to forget about! Do I know her?"

It was at that moment that a flock of angry spellcasters chose to swoop down upon us from out of the sky, blasting spells everywhere at the road. Nicole had to fight with everything she had to keep the jeep steady, as they seemed to be aiming for our tires. If we ever lived through this, I would have to thank them all with the biggest fruit basket I could find. That had be way too close!

And when a man is grateful to see a horde of Dark magicians break up an embarassing confession with a girl he likes, he can truly sink no lower.

"They're trying to run us off the road!" she cried out, ducking down a side road.

"I gathered." Thankfully, I remembered to bring my hoverboard with me. Gathering it together, I climbed into the backseat where grocery bags were spilling over into one another. I was so not picking any of this stuff up! Setting the board down, I climbed on just as Nicole swerved to avoid taking another hit, and nearly fell off.

"Keep her steady!" I shouted back. "I'm going to try and draw their fire!"

"Dan, wait!"

But I was already in the air. The jets on this thing packed quite a kick to them, bringing me eye-level with a cultist in seconds. I think he was really surprised to see me up there with him, because his eyebrows quickly disappeared into the hood covering his face. Taking advantage of his distraction, I brought my bo staff out and slammed it down across his head. The sickening thud made him go limp, and fall about thirty feet or so to the ground. That only left about a half-dozen more or so!

...Who were quickly gathering around me! So much for the element of surprise, it seemed.

I was still not used to flying with this thing. Those kids on Back to the Future made it look so easy, but it was really hard! I avoided several mystic blasts from two cult members behind me through sheer good fortune and a complete, utter lack of knowing what I was doing. That didn't hold up for long, though.

Three got in front of me, and let me have it all at once. My chest felt like it was on fire as I plunged down from the sky, landing squarely back in the jeep on top of several bags that made squishy noises when I tried to get up.

"Back news," I mumbled, wondering which way was up. "There are too many of them. Also, I think I might have broken the eggs!"

"O-Ren is going to kill you," she replied, driving wildly back out onto the main road.

"Tell her to get in line!"

It was inevitable, I suppose. There was no way that many people with enhanced magickal abilities and the power to fly over our heads could keep missing all four tires. They finally nailed them, practically all at the same time, and nearly caused us to flip over in the middle of the highway. I didn't pass out this time, but all the fight got knocked out of me. My staff went flying out of my hands, and immediately collapsed back down to it's smallest size. The hoverboard just gave this tired wheeze, and landed not far away from me, shutting itself off in the process.

We were all lifted up out of the jeep, and quickly had some kind of green powder blown in our faces. I was expecting everything to go dark, but all it did was make me sneeze real bad. I raised back up, but we weren't outside anymore. It took a moment to get my bearings, but after being dragged around, I saw that we'd somehow been brought to the church. This hadn't felt anything like when Nicole used that teleportation watch. None of my insides felt like they'd been sucked out and duct taped to my skin, either!

"How long were we out?" I asked her, softly.

Nicole shook her head. "I don't think we were. Looking out the window! It looks about the same time of day as it was a few seconds ago. That must mean we were brought here through some other means than memory erasure."

"Maybe they haven't worked it all out yet!" I said, hopefully. "Remember how they were saying that the process was incomplete, or something?"

"Let's hope so."

The cultists forced us to walk down the aisle together, minus any ceremony music I might add, up to where the pulpit stood. Behind it were twin seats, and a set of armor beside each one. I'd often wondered what those things were supposed to be for, but now wasn't quite so curious! They made us sit there, then stood back and walked away. I was sure this was some kind of trap, but the temptation to check was too great. Sure enough, the moment I moved, the suite of armor nearest me moved and brought a rather large spear down in front of me. It was clear that, for whatever reason they'd brought us here, we weren't supposed to leave just yet.

That made me feel so much better.

"They didn't take my bag of tricks," Nicole said, holding it up. "Let's see if there's something in here that can help!"

"Just how much stuff did you swipe from Jeff's basement, anyway?" I wondered, watching her rummage through it.

"The bag is bigger on the inside than it is on the out," she explained, pulling several things out at random that I didn't recognize. "There was already a lot of different stuff in here before I picked it up. Here we go!"

It was a pen. "We're going to write a message to someone?"

"Thamaturgical Inkpen," she said, excitedly. "It's supposed to write secret messages to anyone you want it to, and only they can read it. If I concentrate, it might be possible for me to send a message to everyone else."

Nicole pressed the pen against the wall, near the baptistry. "Wait!" I shouted. "Wait, you can't write on the wall of a church! It's..."

Then I remembered that this particular church was the home of a cult of evil sorcerers. "Never mind," I ammended. "Go right ahead."

The ink didn't leave a scratch on the paint, but I assumed it was working, because a moment later she raised up with a satisfied look on her face. "There," she said, putting the pen back into her bag. "They should be here soon. Let's just hope it's not too late. What do you suppose they want with us?"

"The Pride?" I wondered. "Well, they want to erase our memories..."

"I meant Gabriel's parents," she cut in. "Neither of our parents are here, as far as I could tell. Why would they want the two of us?!"

"Who knows," I admitted. "How do you think they found us?"

"Easy!" a voice called out. "There's a tracking device in the jeep!"

We both looked around to find Mrs. Merryweather watching the two of us with a shrewd look on her face. As she came up the steps to stand in front of the pulpit, her eyes began to narrow disapprovingly. I could easily understand why Gabriel wouldn't like this woman! I'd been in front of her for less than a minute, and already she struck me as a total bitch!

"Where is my son?" she demanded without preamble. "I know the two of you know where he is, and I would like for one of you to tell me."

Neither of us said a word. "The one who does," Mrs. Merryweather continued, conjouring a ball of fire in her hands. "Will be able to walk away unharmed and go about your business. If you wish to do this the hard way, however, I'm more than happy to comply. Doing this the hard way will just take longer, though, and my time is short!"

"What if Gabriel doesn't want to be found?" I asked, coyly. "And even if we would tell you, what guarantee do either of us have that you won't double-cross us?"

"Gabriel wants to be found," she replied, utterly convinced of herself. "Of course he wants to come home. I know the only reason he left was because the rest of you forced him to. He's waiting for me to rescue him! He would've been back now, I imagine, if it weren't for his stepfather."

"O...okay," I said, suddenly not feeling the least bit comfortable in front of this woman. She was clearly a few hymnals shy of a choir!

"The truth is," she went on. "I really don't care what either of you do. If you want to run away, then that's perfectly alright with me. It isn't any of my business that your parents failed to teach you right from wrong; I simply want my son back!"

"What a hypocrite!" Nicole mumbled.

Mrs. Merryweather raised a finger, and red lightning shot out of it, missing her by a thread. "I'd watch your mouth in this place if I were you, young lady. That isn't the sort of word you should be throwing around lightly. Especially at your age!"

"What will you do, then?" Nicole challenged. "Kill us?"

"No," I countered, feeling rather bold. "She'll make us listen to thirteen verses of 'Just As I Am'! That's what her husband does when people in the congregation pass out from listening to him ramble on!"

Mrs. Merryweather stared at me. "You've got a lot of gumption in you," she noted, almost sounding pleased. "It's a shame Gabriel had to pick it up from you. He was much better off just listening to me."

Yup! Definitely not feeling safe around her! "You are an absolute nutcase, you know that? Gabriel ran away because your sociopath for a husband beat him on a regular basis! That, and the fact that you both were sacrificing innocent souls to a hideous demon devil-god called Durmakuu, or whatever the hell his name is."

"It doesn't surprise me," she replied. I don't think she'd heard half of what I said. "I had a feeling all along that my husband was to blame for this. He never could do anything right without my help! All I want is for Gabriel to come home, and you two will help me. If being courdeous doesn't work, I'll just have to think of something else!"

"Like what?"

Mrs. Merryweather. "The girl might not be as fresh as Lord Dormamu prefers, but I'd wager her soul is still pure, even if her body is not!"

Nicole blushed, and I felt a surge of anger go through me. That was happening a lot recently!

"Don't you lay one finger on her, you dried up old witch!" I shouted. "Get out of here before I toss you into that stupid baptistry and watch you melt like in the movies!"

"Well," Mrs. Merryweather said, looking at us smugly. "That seems to have hit a nerve! Does your little friend over there know how you truly feel about her?"

I felt Nicole's eyes on me, even as I turned away. My face burned underneath the mask I was wearing, but it didn't do me any good. The old bitch could tell what was happening by the look in my eyes. It was written all over her face.

"You really shouldn't wait this long to say things that are important," she coached, leaning forward to stare me in the face. "There's always a chance something will happen, and it'll be too late."

"It already is too late, you ugly old whore!"

I heard O-Ren's voice, but couldn't see her anywhere. It didn't matter, though, because in the next second, Mrs. Merryweather was knocked flying by something big and heavy standing right next to her, invisible. I had a hunch what it was, and wasn't disappointed as Miguel materialized in front of us.

"Hey, guys!" he said, cheekily. "What's up?"

"The sky," I quipped. "Now get us out of here!"

Gabriel was suddenly there, and whipped out his spellbook. The suites of armor immediately moved to attack him, but he raised a hand and blasted one to bits. The other got a little to close, but Scooby was on the case, and jumped feet first into it. There was the sound of metal crashing, like a dozen fry pans falling to the floor, then absolute silence.

"Way to go, team!" Nicole cheered.

"It was mostly Doctor Feelgood's idea," Miguel admitted, giving him a clap on the back. He was apparently still stuck on our codenames. "He came up with the idea of using this spell that lets us travel through shadows! And he told me to turn invisible so we could check the place out first."

"I just did what I thought you'd have done," he replied, not looking at her.

"Let's go, then," Nicole said, giving Gab's shoulder a squeeze. "We're probably going to have company soon."

"Wait! Where's the jeep?" O-Ren asked. "Didn't you guys get the food?"

"It's on the side of the highway," I told her, finally getting up. "About halfway between Dekalb and here, to be exact. We were ambushed on the way home."

"Can't you just teleport us back the same way?" Nicole asked.

"No!"

We all looked around and saw Mrs. Merryweather getting to her feet, looking frantic. "You mustn't read from the book!" she screamed desperately. "Any spell you cast from it is taken directly from your lifeforce! If you read the same spell more than once, it will kill you!'

Gabriel looked at her for a moment, and something crossed over his face. Whatever it was, I felt ice-cold chills roll up and down my back. There was a look in his eyes then that I never, ever wanted to see. It was clear that, of all of us there, Gabriel was the only one who truly hated his mother.

I realized that it scared me more than anything she could've done to us!

O-Ren raised up her gun, and leveled it right at her head. "Make one move," she warned, threateningly. "Utter so much as a sound, and I will blast your fucking head off with this thing!"

"Shooter," Miguel warned.

"No," Gabriel cut in. "There's no need to kill her. We'll wait until we..."

He stopped, and glanced over at Nicole. "Requesting permission to leave, commander," he said with absolute seriousness.

Nicole looked down at Gabriel's mother. "We need a way out of here," she said. "And you're going to tell us how. Your goon squad wrecked our jeep!"

Mrs. Merryweather looked up at her son. "Gabriel," she whispered. "Please, come home!"

Gabriel looked away from her. "I think Scooby smells someone coming," he warned in a neutral voice. "We should probably all hide. It's probably the rest of the Pride on their way here. She'll have told them that we're here."

"I didn't..." Mrs. Merryweather began, but O-Ren cocked her gun once, and that shut her up!

"It doesn't matter," Nicole said. "O-Ren... I mean, Shooter! Keep your gun leveled on her. If she tries anything, you have my permission to shoot to kill, if you deem it necessary. Captain Crash, you will be taking point. Pick her up and carry her with us. We'll need her as a bargaining chip."

Miguel gathered Mrs. Merryweather up in his arms, who kept trying to get her son's attention. O-Ren held the nozzle right under her nose, and said in a very low voice, "Keep talking, and I'll use this thing to make you look like Michael Jackson!"

She was silent as we headed back up through the sanctuary, but I could feel her eyes on all of us. It was a good thing Gabriel's mother didn't have the power to shoot magick death rays out of her eyes, because we'd have all been toast! The moment we got near the door, they were waiting for us. The ninjas appeared first, doing their typical smokescreen effect entrance.

"That reminds me of Darkwing Duck, for some reason!" Miguel whispered near my ear. "I keep expecting for one of them to start monologuing."

"Yeah, me too!"

"Keep quiet!" Nicole ordered. I shut my mouth at once and watched her step forward.

"We've taken one of the Pride as a hostage. Allow us to pass, and she'll come to no harm!"

As if they'd been expecting this, the ninjas parted as one, and allowed another to step forward. Sure enough, it was my older brother, Joseph.

"The Hand does not compromise," he said, at once. "And the Pride can do without one member. The Externals will surely not miss her! You may kill her if you wish to do so, or surrender. It doesn't matter either way to me."

"Wait!" I shouted, stepping forward. "I want..."

My eyes darted over to Nicole. "I wish to make an offer," I added quickly. "Allow me to fight on behalf of my friends. If I can beat you in combat, you allow us this once chance to escape. If you beat me, I'll surrender myself willingly."

Joseph must've thought I was joking, because he began to laugh uncontrollably. Everyone else turned to stare at me like I'd completely lost my mind! I was dead serious, though. The way things were going, I couldn't possibly do any worse, and having my memories erased of Nicole finding out that I liked her in the worst possible situation was beginning to sound pretty good, all things considered.

"Fine," Joseph said, pulling himself together. "Fine, then. I don't know what you think is going to happen, but I'm not about to take it easy on you. We'll fight, and it will be me that wins. As usual!"

"This isn't Street Fighter," I warned him. "I've got some new moves of my own, now."

"Fascinating," he drolled, pulling his staff out. I did the same. "Show me your stuff, little brother!"

Gabriel, or Doctor Feelgood as Miguel was prone to calling him, leaned down and began whispering in Scooby's half-formed ear. It got me thinking that he had some sort of a plan to interfer, so I quickly pulled everybody together.

"Let me handle this," I told them, pleadingly. "Even if I lose, you guys aren't part of the bargain. At the very least, I should be able to tire him out enough for the rest of you to escape."

"If you lose," O-Ren warned. "I'll blow your head off before they get a chance to brainwash you!"

"Hey," Miguel cut it. "You're supposed to be totally anti-gun, remember?"

"I am!" she replied, loftily. "It's just... the principle of the thing, that's all!"

"Don't lose," Nicole ordered me. "There's still some things we have to do together."

A part of me convinced myself that she was referring to Gabriel's mother revealing that I liked her. For a moment, I wondered if she wanted me to win for another reason; a reason that involved us spending a lot more time alone together, and minus most of our clothes. It didn't last for long, though. Sudden and impending doom seemed to be a great tool for ruining your feelings towards someone. If I did die, well...

Joseph had always wanted to be an only child!

Since we were in a church, I decided to pray. I'm not sure what went through my mind as I murmured under my breath, slowly approaching my older brother with great trepidation, but some of it must have been quality stuff. If I could just remember the words I'd used, people would pay a fortune for it, because the fight actually started off in my favor. I was doing a good job of keeping my older brother's big metal stick away from my vital parts. He even backed away a couple of times!

And then he aimed a roundhouse kick at my gut, which connected hard enough to send my flying back into a pew.

I got back up, pain shooting all up and down along my body in ways that totally redefined the word 'ouch'. Joseph was laughing his ass off at me now, along with every other ninja in attendance.

"So much for new moves, little brother!" he cracked. "I was just checking to see how well your skills had improved. Seems like you're still a novice at everything!"

"Not at everything," I warned, reaching around my back. "There's one new skill I'm still working on."

"What's that?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at me.

I grinned, flipped out the jet hoverboard, and jumped on. The engines kicked in at once, and sent me rocketing towards him at break-neck speed. Joseph had about a half-second warning to get out of the way, but it wasn't enough! I caught him on the front of my staff and brought him high up in the air near the rafters of the church, like a jouster going two hundred miles an hour. Joseph's eyes fluttered closed, but then he opened them and kicked away from me. The sudden shift in weight caused the board to spin out of control, and it was all I could do to keep from flying off.

Regaining my balance, I turned myself around and quickly swept the room for any sign of him. He had somehow disappeared, but I wasn't fooled. Joseph would go somewhere that I couldn't reach him, at least in his mind. He'd wait until my back was turned, then close in for the kill. Years of playing tournament-style fighter games against him on Playstation had given me a keen insight into my brother's way of thinking. He liked to humiliate his opponents just a little bit, and that was his weakness. But I was up in the air, which meant the only place left that he could go to get away was...

Pushing all my weight down into my right leg, I grimaced in pain as the board spun around sharply, and brought my staff up just in the nick of time. Joseph fell down from the top rafter with his staff at the ready, but I parried the blow, and came back around with one of my own. He was able to block it, but there was no place left for him to stand. Joseph was now fighting out of his element, and there was no jet hoverboard for him to ride on. At last, I had a toy of my own that he couldn't steal!

Joseph, however, was just as resourceful at fighting in real life as he was when playing video games. Since there was no place left for him to go but down, he allowed gravity to take hold. At first, for the briefest second, I thought he was giving up. He grabbed on to the bottom of my board, however, and used his own weight to try and drag me down with him. I slammed my foot down hard on the accelerator and roared off, twisting and diving through the air, taking every daredevil chance my brain would allow to let it be known in no uncertain terms that I was not allowing hitchikers on my new ride. Joseph couldn't take the hint, though, and leaped off the minute we got close enough to a wall. Running alongside it, he charged me head-on and nearly caught my left temple.

Things were turning very dangerous! The more I tried to hold him off, the more desperate my brother got. I was beginning to think he really did mean to kill me, and started switching tactics. There was no way I could kill him, no matter how many rotten things he'd done over the years, but at least he could be incapacitated. Or so I thought, until a wrong move on both our parts send us crashing into one another far, far above the floor. I was knocked off my board, yet again, and sent spiralling down with him right behind me. Moving purely on instinct, I grabbed Joseph by the shoulders and pulled him into a kind of mid-air rolled that ended with him being beneath me. We landed hard in the center of a pew, which caused it to split clean in half. Fortunately, he took the brunt of it, and I was somehow able to flip off right after he cushioned my fall.

It sounds much more impressive than it really was. Though I'd saved myself from certain doom, and won the battle as a bonus point, I'd also used up my ninja karma points for the day, it seemed. My spectacular flip ended with me on my ass, lying on the carpet in front of a troop of ninja servants who didn't look particularly happy with me at the moment. I scrambled away back towards where my friends were. The ninjas were starting to advance on us, but I finally rememberd the gloves I was wearing.

Taking aim, I squeezed the apparatus on the inside, and grinned as flames burned across the carpet in front of us, forming a line that cut off the other ninja completely! It occured to me then that I could have used those on my brother during the fight. Hopefully, no one else would make the connection anytime soon!

"_You _stole the Shien Tekkon?!" Joseph howled, climbing up out of the pile of splinters slowly. "Those were meant to be mine!"

"Finders keepers," was all I said, smirking.

"Dan won," Nicole said, loudly. "By your own words, we all have the right to leave."

Joseph wasn't listening to her, though. "You're never going to get away with this," he said, leveling a finger at me, threateningly. "You took from me what was rightfully mine! Those guantlets were made specifically for me, when I complete my training and become a full member of the Hand!"

"Oh, please!" I spat. "Like you never took any of my stuff before. I'd say the tables are still way far from even!"

"This is different!" he screamed. "Besides, you broke my old Nintendo, and I'd just gotten it working again!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. "This isn't over," Joseph went on, swearing. "The Hand never forgives traitors, little brother. No matter where you go from this point on, or who you try to hide behind, you're a dead man. And I'm going to be the one to collect the price on your head! You understand me?!"

"God!" I swore. "You sound like Vegeta, making all these lame threats."

"What?!" he said, looking confused.

"'Vegeta,'" I squeaked, doing my best imitation of Bulma. "'Planet Earth is about to explode!' 'Nevermind that! I must go and fight Kakarot!' 'But Baby Trunks needs changing!' 'Nothing gets in the way of my neverending and filler episode-creating battle with Kakarot. Not even stinky diapers!'"

Everyone in the room was looking at me now. "Ahem," I said, trying to look cool. "Anyway, you swore we could go free if I beat you, and I'd say you look pretty whipped. Unless you want me to break out these babies!" I held up the guantlets for show. "I was trying to take it easy on you, but if you really want to get rough, we can go another round or two."

Joseph glared at me, but gestured behind him to the ninjas, who immediately parted to let us pass. I think we must have stood there a full minute, wondering if this was a trick.

"Go!" Joseph screamed, pointing. "Leave now, while you still have the chance. But know this isn't over, not by a long shot!"

"Whatever!" I barked.

Unfortunately, the guantlets didn't give me the power to control fire! Just send it flying out of my hands in jet streams. I came to this understanding when the church started to burn in earnest. Miguel tried to put the flames out with a force field, but his Fantastic Four powers were on the fritz, suddenly. None of the ninjas or my brother seemed terribly worried about it, but with their powers, they were probably safe. Only Mrs. Merryweather looked upset, but that probably had little to do with her being in danger. I was just beginning to wonder if we would suffocate from second-hand smoke, and after my spectacular fight scene no less, when Scooby came running up to us with something in his mouth.

"Everyone jump on!" Gabriel told us, laying a rug out on the part of carpet that hadn't burned yet.

"Is that what I think it is?" O-Ren asked, incredulously.

"I think so," he replied, sitting down. "But, is there any other way out of here?"

That got us all moving. The moment the magic carpet started to rise, Mrs. Merryweather seemed to come out of whatever trance she'd been in for the past several minutes that had rendered her quiet. She tried to hitch a ride with us by snagging the edge of the rug as we soared off, but Gabriel moved over and brought the Word of Mordo down on her fingers. She let out a scream and plunged back down into the flames, which by now were spreading to the rest of the church. His face was totally devoid of emotion as we rode out into the night. Nicole moved closer to him as we headed back towards the Arcade, taking him gently by the hand. After a second or two, he seemed to come back from wherever he'd gone, and gave her a grim smile of thanks.

I tried not to think about what any of that might mean as we got nearer to home. In addition to our other crimes, we had now burned down a Baptist church, which would surely bring the entire town population against us! I wouldn't be surprised if they were hanging pictures of us on burning crosses out in the fields by tomorrow afternoon! Earlier, before my abrupt brush with pyromania, I had asked God for help. I still couldn't remember the words I'd used, but it'd let me walk away alive from my fight with Joseph, a much more skilled and deadly ninja than I. I thought perhaps it was unfair of me to complain now, since the worst of my injuries were lots of bruises that would take about a week to completely heal. Looking over at Nicole, still holding on to Gabriel's hand, I kept thinking that I'd still lost out in the end.

_Hey, God_! I prayed, as the Arcade came up in sight. _Do you ever think about me_?


	9. Youth Gone Wild: Mystery Train

Runaways:

Youth Gone Wild

Chapter 4

Mystery Train

by Ri-kun

We were all really down for the next couple of days. Losing our only means of transport, as well as all the food we bought, put each of us in a serious funk. Nicole was blaming herself, spending hours at a time alone in her corner trying to translate the Abstract. The only time she came out was to eat what little food we were able to scrounge locally. I checked on her, but she insisted each time that everything was okay. The only other person who could get near her was Gabriel...

The rest of us tried to keep busy by honing our powers. The past two encounters had taught us all that we had to be ready for anything. Miguel was heading this up, and despite his lack of style, wasn't doing too terrible a job! I was actually surprised when he came up with several battle plans all on his own, for in case we had to fight multiple ninjas and sorcerers.

Or aliens, he'd added, sheepishly. "The trouble is," he pointed out, after a really rough practice. "The Pride have the advantage of working together. They've been doing this sort of thing a lot longer, so they understand how the other members' powers work!"

I was gradually mastering the jet hoverboard, though it wasn't easy. The board still had a habit of trying to buck me off whenever I pulled any aerial manuver more complicated than turning. Miguel had me volunteer for target practice with O-Ren. My job was to fly around and avoid getting hit with her metamorph gun! I hated doing it, but had to give him credit. He did ask her to turn the blast down as far as it would go. Of course, that didn't stop her from hitting me dead-on repeatedly. She was hell with that sniper scope!

Gabriel poured over his spellbook when he wasn't working with us. He was attempting to master the tarot cards, which looked like little more than random pictures to me. They seemed to make perfect sense to him, though. He even offered to try them out on me, but I declined. Magick gave me goosebumbs, even though I trusted him completely.

Well, mostly. The dragon incident had given me pause. I suspect that kept the majority of those cultists busy for the rest of the night! Which was probably why we were able to get away in the first place.

Finally, Nicole came out of her self-imposed exile. I was relieved to see her, since life in the Arcade wasn't the same without her there to lead us. She didn't sit down right next to Gabriel, but he was still close enough to reach out and take her hand, with a little bit of effort and stretching. I, however, was right on the other side, within a reasonable distance of her. It was nice to see she was taking the revelation of my deepest feelings so well.

Actually, that just left me feeling confused and angry, but I wasn't going to let anyone know that.

"I've been doing my best to translate the Abstract scroll," she said, when the meeting began. "It's slow going, and very complicated, but I managed to get a lot of it done in the last couple of days. I've even managed to figure out some of what the Pride are up to, but we'll get to that in a second."

"Are we in that thing?" Miguel asked, pointing. "I mean, does it say why our parents had us in the first place?"

"Actually," Nicole said slowly. "That's one of the biggest parts! We're as much a part of the Pride as our parents are. We just didn't realize it!"

"What's it say?!" O-Ren asked eagerly, leaning forward.

"I'll start at the beginning," she replied, unrolling it. "There are some things you all need to hear about this thing in general, but we'll start with the basics first. Let's see..."

Nicole paused, then took a deep breath. "Dan... Midoriyama, or whichever you prefer..."

"Dan is fine," I told her, quickly. "Go on ahead."

"Right. I guess we'll start with you, since this is where the Abstract puts things. Did you know that your father was in the military? He was a soldier during Vietnam, and set over there to do active service because he commited grand theft auto when he was seventeen."

"Yeah," I nodded. "The judge told him to pick either hard time, or service."

"Okay. Well, as it turns out, while your father was in Vietnam, he had this encounter with a group called The Hand."

Miguel gasped. "Sorry!" he apologized hurriedly. "It's just that... Well, I never really believed The Hand were real. There are rumors about them all over the internet on superhero websites, but the things they talk about just sounded too crazy to be real!"

"Like what?" O-Ren asked, curious.

"Later," Nicole said. "Anyway, The Hand were actually very active in that part of the world during Vietnam. Your dad came across there, and to make a long story short, he would up saving the life of a very important member. I haven't translated all the details, but apparently he was made a kind of honorary almost-member. The Hand don't like westerners much, but they made an exception in this case. They promised him whatever he wanted, so he asked that they train him and make him stronger. He wound up getting moved over to a neutral place near Tokyo, which is where he met your mom. They trained him, and then sent him back home with a handful..."

"Sorry! With a few Hand members. I guess they didn't really think he could do much over here, or else expected him to fail, but your father and mother began systematically taking over the underworld in this part of the coast. It didn't take too long, either!"

"Next," she said. "There was your parents, O-Ren. They were scientists who manufactured biological and chemical weapons for the Triad in Hong Kong. When things got dicey there, they decided to pack up and flee. When The Hand learned they were headed this way, Dan's father pounced at the chance to have them executed. But your mother had an encounter with Miguel's mother, and things got complicated."

"Even more than they already are?" Miguel wondered. I had to agree with him, privately!

"Very!" Nicole said. "Your family are actually Skrull crimminal rebels who tried to take over one of their outposts a few solar systems from here. When they failed, your mom led the escape to earth. Their ship was too damaged, so they set up an interplanetary arms smuggling trade out of town. This brought a lot of trouble, which is what caused the war to break out in the first place. See, the Pride got formed because of fighting over territory, but I'll get to that in a bit."

"You're parents," she pointed to Gabriel. "Came to Meridian to set up a base for Dormamu. Remember, Miguel, how you said that his spellbook, the Word of Mordo, was probably written by Dormamu's servant? Well, it says right here that Gabriel's dad was a rival of Baron Mordo's. They were fighting over who would serve him, and your father finally left to establish his own power base. The Merryweathers were neutral in the beginning of the Pride War, but that changed before too long. They mostly fought against everybody, and did a fairly good job of holding their own!"

"My mom had a shitduck fit once when I came home with a parking ticket!" Miguel muttered. "And she's the crime lord?! That's just wrong."

"What about your parents?" I asked her quickly, before I could lose my nerve.

"Mutant lab rats," she replied, nonchalantly. "They escaped from Canada, a project the government there had set up called Weapon X. Basically, it was designed to turn mutants into living weapons, but my parents made it out. They sought help from someone named Mr. Sinister..."

"Heard of him!" Miguel called out. "He's bad news."

"Thank you, Miguel!" O-Ren said, pointedly. "Go on, Nick."

"Sinister helped them set up a base where they would recruit mutants and train them. This Mr. Sinister guy had the technology and know-how to give my parents stuff that would keep their students under control. Apparently, that's why my mom was a guidance councelor for the district," she added, quietly. "Made it easier to find the right ones!"

"You knew they were mutants," I said. It wasn't a question, but Nicole said nothing in response. O-Ren quietly shook her head at me, and I abated.

"The Pride was formed because of a group of beings called the Externals," she went on, after a minute. "There's not much in the Abstract about them, but apparently..."

"They're an ancient race of super-powerful mutant immortals," Miguel finished. "X-Men fan website has a whole article on them!"

"Would you shut up!" O-Ren hissed.

"The Externals have something like a temple, or maybe it's a shrine, built somewhere around here. They gathered the key members of the Pride together, and forged a treaty for them to sign. That's how the Pride got formed. Dan's parents control and regulate the crime all along through the Gulf coast. My parents sell mutant slaves on the black market to foreign powers, usually Genosha. O-Ren's mother and father make weapons and viruses and sell them for profit. Miguel's family have heresay in any alien technology that comes through Pride territory. And Gabriel's parents deal with the supernatural! They all share the wealth, and have say-so in what happens in their own areas."

"Why'd they sign the treaty to begin with?" Gabriel asked. "It doesn't sound like the sort of thing they'd agree on. From what you've told us, our parents were all ready to wipe each other out!"

"The Externals didn't give them a choice," Nicole said, simply. "They would either work together, or be obliterated!"

"What do the Externals do?"

"Maintain order, mostly," Nicole told him. "They act as a kind of police, making sure things run smoothly within the Pride. In exchange, the Pride have to donate a tithe every seven years to them; ten percent, just like in church! The treaty was meant to last for a hundred years, with a tithe every cycle of seven years, and the third cycle is in just a few months!"

"Great!" Miguel shouted, jumping to his feet. "That just means we have to..."

He stopped there. "Wait, what does that mean?"

"Nothing!" O-Ren hissed at him. "It does mean nothing, right?"

She almost looked a little afraid as she asked Nicole this. Nicole, however, just shook her head.

"I really don't know, in all honesty! I keep hoping I'll be able to tell everyone more once the Abstract is decoded. So far, it's been a rough trip!"

"You'll get it," Gabriel assured her. "We all know you will!"

Dammit, I'd wanted to say that. Gabriel didn't even notice the awful look I shot his way; his face was glued to Nicole's in such a way that reminded me of a little puppy I'd tried to take home once when I was four.

"So, what do we all do now?" Miguel asked, scratching his head.

_"You all come with us, or die!"_

Everyone jumped up, but it was me who spotted them first. The Hand ninjas, materializing out of thin air like their bodies were made from it, and armed to the teeth! My brother, Joseph, was leading up the charge, and had eyes for me as his body finished putting itself together from nothingness.

"Run everybody!" Nicole ordered.

We all stood our ground, though, except for Scooby. He was adequately named after all, it seemed, because the undead mutt went charging off to the back like a dogcatcher was after him. Just when we could've used him, too! Gabriel had his spellbook out at once, though, with a hand raised ready to blast them. He was muttering something under his breath, while O-Ren pointed her rifle at a ninja behind Joseph. I had my bo staff out, along with my rocket hoverboard. Miguel had shapeshifted his arms to look like the Thing's, indicating he had access to the Fantastic Four's strongman power.

Yet, I still felt like we were outnumbered.

"I don't freakin' believe this!" Miguel roared. "They can't located Osama in a fucking cave, but the Pride finds us hiding out in a video hall!?"

"The Pride has known where Osama Bin-Laden has been hiding for months now!" Joseph counted, arrogantly. "Not quite as long as we've known where you are, but almost! We've just been waiting for the right moment!"

"Which is now, I guess," Nicole said, bravely.

"No one here has to die," said Joseph, raising a clawed gauntlet. "The Pride wants all of you alive. If you come quietly, there will be no bloodshed!"

"Sorry, bro!" I catcalled. "But there won't be any bloodshed either way. You forgot the most important part of playing Street Fighter II Alpha."

"Nani?" he said, looking at me like I'd lost my mind.

"Never let your guard down!" I cried, ducking.

"Now, Gabriel!" Nicole ordered, pointing.

Gabriel raised the book open-faced, and a blob of green gel came flying out from it. As soon as the stuff touched the air, it began to spread out between us and the group of ninja death squad attackers. The stuff stretched itself thin, until it was a wall touching every part of the room between us and them. At the same time, Scooby came running up with the magic carpet Gabriel had stolen with his help a few days before. I was wrong again, it seemed!

"Oh, and by the way, Joseph!" I called out, as we rode towards the glass window. "You're not fucking Japanese!"

O-Ren fired on the door as we rushed towards it. The glass shattered, along with about half of the wall, but it was nonetheless a way out! We rode that magic carpet out into the windy air of the afternoon sky, cheering and crying out like cowboys from the old west. I was almost sorry for a minute that I'd never watched those lame John Wayne movies with my dad. He'd loved those things with a passion. Of course, he also loved being a ninja crime boss...

We were plowing through the air at a speed not even 747s would've felt safe with. Which just goes to show you, no matter what kind of vehicle a teenager may drive, we instinctively cannot bring ourselves to drive the speed limit! Miguel was using his arms to steer it, and taking off the tops of a few trees as we flew by. Nicole ordered him to slow down, and had to repeat herself several times to be hear. O-Ren simplified things by tapping him on the shoulder with the barrel of her rifle. Miguel complied at once.

"Say!" he shouted, as we began following a set of train tracks that led out of town. "Does anybody here know the words to Steppenwolf's _'Magic Carpet Ride_?'"

Gabriel started to open his mouth, but Nicole shushed him. "Not now," she said, gently. "We need to figure out where we go from here."

"It's really my fault," I told her at once. "I never did set up those traps like I promised."

"I doubt they'd have stopped ninjas from The Hand, anyway. We need a battle plan, and fast!"

"It's time to stop running away," Gabriel said, over the wind in our ears. "We need to take the fight to the Pride, instead of hiding away. They knew where to find us, which means they'll probably find us again if we keep laying low."

"But they won't expect us to turn around and fight back," Nicole finished. "Not a bad idea, actually!"

"What?!" O-Ren shouted, whirling around. "Please, tell me I didn't hear you right."

"What other options do we have?" Nicole asked, pointedly. "The Pride are after us, we can't go to the police for help, and our only hideout was just compromised a few hundred miles back. Miguel, please slow down!"

"Anyway," she said, once he did as she asked, with O-Ren's unneeded assistance. "I really don't think the Pride were involved in this latest attack."

"That got my attention," I said, raising up.

"What makes you say that?" Gabriel said, confused.

"This wasn't nearly as organized. Everytime our parents have come after us, there have been ninjas and aliens and cult magicians all working together. This time, though, it was just Dan's older brother, and he didn't bring very many with him. I mean, if we could escape all of them before, why would he risk something like that now?"

That got my mind running overtime. "Joseph is probably planning something by himself," I told her, thinking quickly. "He always did like to go off by himself and do things his own way. My dad... used to warn him that it'd get him in trouble one day."

"Right. So, the Pride are divided. Much as I don't like it, this may be our best chance to catch them off guard. What we really need to do now is find out..."

Then, there was gunfire. Lots and lots of it, coming from somewhere just below us. The sound of a train whistle blowing cut most of it out, but that didn't stop the blasts from eating holes all our only mode of transportation left! Whoever was shooting must've been a terrible shot; they hit the carpet dead-on, but missed each and every one of us. We did, however, manage to fall off as it caught fire. A few scorch burns from stray bullets had turned it into a flaming mass of moth balls in seconds.

I jumped on my jet hoverboard and rode off. Not to run away, but to look for whoever was shooting at us. My gloves, the shien tekkon my brother had called them, went on easily as I spotted the shots coming from the train below us, near the caboose. Weird, that I'd remember something like that in a life-or-death situation!

Everyone else was still falling! I was too far away to reach O-Ren or Nicole, but Miguel caught them both in his arms. He was projecting a force field around himself even as his body reached the cable car in the middle, slamming into it with all the force of a car accident. Gabriel was still falling alongside Scooby, who had the neck of his shirt in his slobbering jowls. I muttered something about chivalry not being worth the effort, then caught them both as they neared the ground. The two would've landed on a slope heading downhill if I hadn't made it in time. However, it was then that I learned the jet hoverboard was never meant to be used by more than just one person at a time!

Stains from Scooby's decaying body soaked into my ninja clothes as I held on to him for dear life. I didn't understand how Gabriel could bear touching something like this! He weighed even more than he looked, which was a lot. The board beneath my feet gave out several coughing noises, which told me I was about to be in serious trouble. I yelled for someone to think of something quick, but I don't think they heard me. Gabriel, bless his scrawny hide, did something with his hands that caused the wind to kick up all around us. There was a whoosh, and suddenly we were airborne again. I thought perhaps for a second that we would land somewhere south of Oz, but luck wasn't on either of our sides!

When I looked up, we'd made it to the train. There was about half a second's time to look around for the others, before a dark shadow fell across all three of us. Scooby gave a low growl, and leaped up off me with a snarl. I was very thankful, at least until I heard the gunfire. There was a yelp of pain, and Scooby hit the ground again. The metal of the train car shook with the impact, and I could see several holes with smoke rising up from them, and something green pouring out.

"Bad dog!" the stranger in red and black shouted, shaking a finger his way. "Very bad! No sea biscuits for you tonight!"

I blinked, and watched as he strode purposely over to where Gabriel and I lay tangled up in each other. "I hope you realize that there's a leash law in this county. If you're animal isn't on a proper leash, then I'm afraid I'll have to put a bullet between your ears!"

"What are you?" Gabriel hissed, trying to stand with me on top of him. "The Pride's dutily-appointed dogcatcher?"

"Very cute," he said, lowing the barrel of his gun at us. "No, I'm the guy that's here to collect the bounty on your heads. If it weren't for the fact that I need all of you alive to see a dime of that ten million dollars, you'd be kissing hot lead by now. So, we can either do this the hard way..."

"Or you can kiss my ass!" I raised both hands, and gave him a fistful of fire right to the upper torso.

To my utter shock, it didn't do much more than make him stagger backwards a little. "Children..." he coughed, waving his arms in front of his face. Most of his body was still on fire! "Children shouldn't smoke," he lectured. "Nor should they go around setting fire to mercenaries with... " he paused. "Super-powered weaponry that they seem to have magically produced from nowhere."

There was a growl behind him. "Or," he added, backing away towards the edge. "With mutant dogs that cannot be killed by conventional, tried and true methods!"

"Scooby isn't a mutant," Gabriel said, crawling out from under me. "He's dead. I brought him back to life with a magic spell."

The others were coming. I heard their footsteps against the roar of the train, somehow! "Make one move!" O-Ren warned, pulling up next to me. "And I drop you into the river!"

"Children should never play with guns!" he shouted. "Not at all!"

O-Ren pushed a button on the side of her rifle. "Especially," he said, as the gun shifted to it's plasma assault blaster mode. "Not guns that can shapeshift into even more powerful guns! What the hell is going on here, anyway!? Did I stumble onto the set of a reality tv show?"

"Who are you?" Nicole demanded. "What do you want with us? Did the Pride send you?"

"Pride?" he shouted, looking indignant. "I'll say my pride's been injured. Nobody told me you kids were armed with more firepower than the HYDRA! Speaking of which, you in the ninja suit!"

"Me?" I asked, pointing at myself.

"Who'd you have to sleep with to get all that hardware?"

"He stole it from his parents," Miguel said at once. "We all did, really."

"Miguel, shut up!" O-Ren hissed.

"The Pride didn't send you?" Nicole asked, keeping her eyes sharply on him.

I raised my fists again as he scratched his head in confusion. "Who is this Pride you speak of, Queen Amadala? I came all the way down here to bum-cluck Mississippi in the middle of nowhere because a buddy of mine tips me off about some easy money I can make. I've got some people I owe a couple things to, and figured this'd be the easiest ten million I could make. A bunch of runaways rob a bank and steal a broken down van to escape in... Who could resist?"

Then he sighed. "Something about that smelled funny from the start, though. Like waking up in the morning to find out you've been out of socks for eight days. Or Meryl Streeps own line of perfume!"

"Who the hell are you?" O-Ren demanded, leveling her gun at his face. "What do you want with us?"

He either didn't hear, or wasn't upset about her having a bigger gun than him anymore. "Figures!" he grumbled. "I get sent on a suicide mission to capture a bunch of punks that have enough hardware between them to raid Fort Knox!"

Something occured to him, then. "Say! You five wouldn't be interested in doing a little job would me, would you?"

I started to ask permission to give O-Ren clearance to fire. She looked ready to anyway, but things weren't over. Not by a long shot, which should've occured to me by this point! Speaking of shots, that was exactly what happened to us. We were suddenly being shot at from all directions. I thought maybe the Dormamu worshipers had come back, because the attack came from above. When I spared a glance up, though, there were just a bunch of weird-looking guys in old yellow radiation suits.

Oh, and they had jet packs.

"Friends of yours?" I yelled, when the Spider-Man wannabe fell on his face in front of me.

"Not mine," he replied, peering out between the gap in his fingers. "Not I, said the little red mecenary!"

"A.I.M.!" I heard Miguel scream, pointing.

Thinking he meant me, I raised my hands and caught on full-on in the face with a blast of heated fire. His jet pack gave a roar as the flames I produced caused it to overheat. There was the sound of an explosion that seemed much farther off, and he was gone. The man who'd just tried to kill us went rocketing wildly through the air, before losing all control and slamming into the the underside of a bridge. I felt a cold wind fill me up from the inside, as the reality of what just happened hit me.

"Miguel!" Nicole cried out over the chaos. "We need a force field, now!"

The force field came, but O-Ren didn't stop firing. I don't know that she was in her right state of mind at the moment. She just kept grinning up at the air above us, like she was seeing something we weren't, and firing away. This meant that her shots ricocheted off the inside of the dome and came back our way. Nicole shouted something to Gabriel, who jumped up and tried taking the gun away. O-Ren threw him aside like he weighed nothing, and kept right at it.

"That girl's been abstinent for way too long!" the guy said, taking cover next to me. "Know if she's seeing anybody?"

I couldn't believe what was happening. My mind just wouldn't wrap around it.

"Who are you?!" I demanded, pushing him out of the way.

"Name's Deadpool. And you might want to get that gun away from your trigger happy friend over there. From the looks of things, this isn't over by far! We're about to have even more company!"

Oh, joy!


	10. Youth Gone Wild: Hearts Breaking Even

Runaways:

Youth Gone Wild

Chapter 5

Hearts Breaking Even

by Ri-kun

My life sucked.

That's really all it amounted to!

There was a time when the worst thing I had to worry about was whether I'd pass Algebra this year, and if mom and dad would float the money to buy me a new Playstation 2, just so I wouldn't have to share with Joseph! Since learning that said money came from my parents through various illegal enterprises, and that they controled them via a secret clan of ninja assassins, life had gotten a tad more complicated.

I had run away from home, along with several friends of mine who's rents were also supervillians, in the hopes of locating help. Life on the lamb was nothing like any of the movies I used to watch. My very expensive and stylish car was blown up before we really got anywhere in it, leaving us to steal a beat-up old van. The van in question had to be abandoned when we were captured by a team of magic-using cult worshipers, and taken to a secret training school for evil mutants. Then, we stole an honest-to-goodness magic carpet and flew off on it, only to have it riddled with bullet holes like swiss cheese after fleeing from our one and only safe house. Now, a mercenary was chasing after us, while simultaineously running from a bunch of other mercs, because he claimed there was a ten million dollar bounty on our heads!

Oh, and through all of this, I still hadn't worked up the balls to tell Nicole how I felt!

Yup, my life really sucked!

I was starting to regret ever leaving home in the first place. As Miguel and Nicole managed to get the gun away from O-Ren and calm her down, which in the process cost us our force field because Miguel was no longer concentrating, I wondered if perhaps I'd been too hard on my parents. I mean, most kids find out at some point that their mom and dad aren't totally honest with them. I'd kinda figured they were keeping secrets from me for a long time; I just hadn't expected it to be quite this big! Still, they were kinda keeping the crimminal element in check sort of. Maybe if I went back and apologized for taking the car...

And getting it blown up...

Sure, they'd forgive that. I'd probably be sacrificed to whatever monster god the Merryweathers were worshiping as a form of punishment, but they'd have no problem forgiving me.

All of a sudden, getting shot at on top of a train by flying manics with jet packs didn't seem quite so bad. The moment I thought that, though, O-Ren got hold of her gun again, and started firing. Without the force field in the way, she was doing quite well. None of her blasts came whizzing back over our heads, at least!

"Heavens tah mergatroid!" the mercenary named Deadpool cried, pointing. "She gots her some skillz!"

"If he starts talking in 133t," O-Ren warned, glaring our way. "I'll throw an electromagnetic pulse up his ass! Twice!"

"You might want to keep it down," I warned him, moving back. "She's been under a lot of stress lately."

"Right!" he nodded, hard. "Well, you five seem to have everything under control. I guess I'll be on my way!"

"Wait!" Nicole shouted, before he could slip off. "I want to talk to you!"

Whatever she said next was blanketed by the noise of a bomb going off. The train rocked on it's tracks, nearly throwing us off it. I held on for dear life and tried not to scream as my body came crashing back down. O-Ren let out a very loud curse, and switched guns again. This one had a much thicker barrel, and I knew then that our rocky train ride hadn't even started yet.

"Die, you flying monkeys from hell!" she screamed, taking aim at the sky. "Die! Die! Die!"

"Can you help us?" Nicole begged, keeping low to avoid stray gunfire. "Please!"

Deadpool looked at her like she was nuts. "Look, kiddies," he said, taking on a voice similiar to Mr. Rogers. "I'm a big, bad mercenary. I get paid to kill people, remove their spinal cords to choke them with it, and drag the corpses back to whoever paid me so they can have it mounted above the fireplace. I don't do babysitting, and even if that weren't true, there really isn't enough money in the world right now to convince me to help you!"

"Please!"

"Sorry! Best of luck! I'm outta here!"

Deadpool jumped up and raced over to the back of the train. I saw in the not-too-distance that he'd somehow parked a vespa scooter there. The same crazy voice that spoke to me whenever things went coo-coo pointed out then that he'd never be able to drive off at these speeds. That, and the fact that the vespa seemed to have taken several blasts, and was now sporting a number of smoking holes that went all the way through it. Deadpool climbed on board anyway, and waved goodbye.

"So long, kiddies!" he waves, smugly. "It's been real!"

One of the flying assholes in the yellow radiation suits came roaring down right at him. He had just enough time to notice it before the limp body crashed full-on into the vespa, making it explode. Deadpool went flying one way, while parts of him that once made up his left leg went another. Blood came raining down all over me, and I tried very hard not to scream like a girl.

Nicole didn't even flinch. "We've got to get out of here!" she ordered. "Miguel, stretch us out of here."

"What?" he exclaimed. "But I've never tried using that power before!"

"There's a first time for everything. We've got somebody injured, and these people mean business!"

Miguel gulped, but nodded and extended his arm. I think he must've spent a good minute or so standing there, looking very constipated while O-Ren, Gabriel, and I tried to keep the radiation boys off his back. Finally, his arm started pulling out from the rest of his body. I'd never seen the Fantastic Four use their powers before. In fact, I'd only seen a photo of them in class when I was young. It never occured to me just how gross Mr. Fantastic's power to stretch really was!

I nearly threw up.

Again!

Miguel snagged a passing light pole as we rode through a residential area. Nicole had us all grab onto a part of him, which now felt like rubber no matter which area I reached for. This brought to mind for a moment several impossible thoughts that no man, no matter how crazy the situation he is in, should ever think about! I snatched hold of Deadpool's hand, who was still lying in a puddle of his own blood, and muttering something about highway flyers and destroyed vespas. Then, Miguel's feet left the ground, and we were airborne again!

We really were going to have to work on our landings. This had to have been the most indignified one made so far! Nicole wound up in Gabriel's lap, the lucky bastard. O-Ren was hanging upside down from a nearby tree, still clinging to her gun and firing it a leaves stirred up on the ground by wind. Miguel had fared the best, and was now trying to help everyone else up. Me?

I had landed head-first into the crotch of a man with not leg, who've voice was now raised several octaves.

"What do you mean, you still won't help us?"

The flying radiation boys, whom Miguel informed me were called A.I.M., were now gone. O-Ren and he had finished off the handful that followed us from the train. I guessed what he'd been yelling earlier now made sense, but it still didn't change the cold, sick feeling in me. I had killed a man for no reason, other than the fact that he'd been trying to kill me. At least, that was what I'd thought. According to Deadpool, the money was only good if we were brought back alive. Which meant, by that reasoning, I really had killed a man for no reason!

"Did you name yourself after that Dirty Harry movie?" Miguel asked, once things settled down.

"No," he replied, dryly. "Death helped pick it out for me. She and I had a thing for one another for a while."

No one responded to that. "We can pay you," Nicole continued, staring hard at him. "There's not much, but you can have whatever money we have. All we need for you to do is get word to someone who deals with supervillains, and help us find a new place to stay."

"No."

"No?" Nicole sounded a little surprised. Actually, we all were!

"No," he said flatly, again.

"Why not?" This from O-Ren. "We did say we could pay you! You heard that part, right?"

"I heard, but I'm not interested in babysitting. I came to this bum-cluck town to collect the reward on all of your heads. Nice little job with that, by the way. Breaking into a bank using a ghost dragon, right? I thought at first maybe somebody had just gotten stoned off of tractor fumes while watching Barney reruns! Who pulled that one off?"

Gabriel raised his hand. "There's another way of doing this," he said, holding up the Word of Mordo. "If you help us, I can possibly regrow your leg using a spell from in here."

"Thanks, kiddie," Deadpool replied. "But I've already got it covered."

He held up his hands, then, as if conducting an orchestra. "And a-one, and a-two, and a-..."

Deadpool froze. "Hang on! I'd almost forgotten. My healing powers don't cover regeneration of lost limbs during manical combat. Stupid Weapon X policy!"

Nicole's eyes shot up all the way into her head. "About that offer to regrow my leg, then," he went on, looking at Gabriel hopefully.

Gabriel just opened up to a page in the book, and began reading. I was really going to have to learn Latin, if only so I could figure out what he was really saying. It was unnerving to me, like standing next to someone who was talking on their cel phone, and only hearing half the conversation. That had always annoyed me!

Then again, considering some of the things that came out of that book, I was probably better of being in the dark!

Deadpool's leg began to regrow itself. It wasn't a neat or pretty job, either! I mean, none of those comic books Miguel read really did this sort of thing justice. I bent over, sure I was going to puke this time, but held it in. Finally, after what seemed to take forever, it was done. Deadpool got up on his feet again, and started bouncing around happily.

"Alrighty, then! Cheer up, kid," he told me, gleefully. "They charge people admission to see stuff like that in New York City. Now, what can I do for the rest of you, aside from make you lose your lunches?"

"We need you to go to someone like the F.B.I., or maybe the Avengers, and explain what's really been happening with our parents!" Nicole said at once.

"Whosat?" he asked, scratching his head.

"Our parents are evil supervillains," Miguel piped up. "We found out about a week or two ago, and now they're trying to capture us so we can be brainwashed into forgetting. Oh, and we can't go to the police, either."

"The cops control everything in this town," I added, raising up. "And the Pride control the police. We can't make a move without them finding us."

"Will you help us?" Nicole finished, looking solemn.

I'd have run to the White House in that moment, if I were in his shoes and had that sort of look aimed at me. Deadpool, however, just shook his head back and forth like a madman. "Nope! Sorry!" he insisted. "Couldn't, even if I wanted to!"

"What!?"

Gabriel raised his book high, threateningly. "Hold on!" Deadpool said, holding his hands up. "It's not what you think, kiddies. Daddy can't just run off to the Avengers mansion and knock on the door. The last time I was there..."

"Well, let's just say it wasn't a very pleasant experience for any of us. The bottom line is, I'm really not one of the good guys. Tried doing that once, but it didn't work out for me. Or anyone else, for that matter!"

There was a moment of silence, and I think he might have been remembering something really bad. "Anyway," he went on. "The point is, I'm really not in good with any of what you'd call the 'spandex boy scouts' crowd. Except..."

"What?"

"Well, there is... _someone_."

"We'll take 'em!" Miguel said, eagerly.

"Not so fast. I'm really not sure she'd accept. We haven't spoken in awhile, and things haven't always been crystal between us! Still, if I let on that a bunch of purely virginal children are being tortured by evil supervillains, that might get her and the X-pals she runs with down here soon. Would that be good enough?"

"You mean," Nicole said slowly. "X-Men?"

"Something like that, yeah."

It looked like Nicole was going to say no at first. "Fine," she answered, after a long moment. "We'll take it. In the meantime, do you know of a place we can go to hide out at? Our last safehouse was..."

"Invaded by ninjas," Miguel finished. "A bunch called The Hand."

Deadpool froze. "You've heard of The Hand?!" I demanded. "Really?"

"Uhhh, NO!" He backed away, like he was really afraid now. "No, you must be referring to the product that cures... athlete's foot! Yeah! Not the secret society of evil ninjas that little mecenaries tell stories about when they want to see who will urinate in their breeches first!"

"Dan's parents are members of The Hand," Miguel said, point. "They run all the crime in this state. Oh, and O-Ren's parents used to be weapons specialists for the Triad Ravens."

Deadpool looked a little sick. "Really? That's very... facinating."

"And Nicole's parents were prisoners of something called Weapon..."

"That's enough, Miguel." The way she said it, I knew Nicole was serious. Deadpool, however, had already put three and three together.

"Weapon... X?" he offered, sounding grave. Something about him changed in that instance; it was like he'd morphed into a new and completely different person. A person that had lots and lots of issues. I suddenly had a theory about where this merc had come from.

"So, what's your story, big mouth?" he shot at Miguel. "You the bastard son of Galactis? Or maybe the illegtimate third-cousin of Thanos! That'd be freakin' hilarious."

"My parents are Skrull war crimminals," Miguel muttered. "They all got together and basically gang-banged my mom to create me. I'm what they called a Super Skrull, which means I can use all the powers of the Fantastic Four."

"The Fantastic... Say that again!"

"Well," Miguel added, sheepishly. "Not all at once."

"Not very well, either!" O-Ren threw at him.

"Hey! I'm working on it."

"Okay, kiddies. Time to bring in the referee! So, what about short, skinny, and dark over there with the magical whammy book?"

"Parents are evil wizards," Gabriel said without shame. "They sacrifice virgin souls to a demon demi-god called Dormamu."

Scooby gave out a loud bark. "And he's an undead mastiff dog I raised from the dead by accident," he added, pointing.

Deadpool was quiet for a moment. It struck me that he probably didn't get this way very often. "What have I gotten myself into?!" he finally groaned, getting up. "Easiest ten million I'd ever make, right! HA!"

"I shoulda know something smelled rotten about this deal. Who in their right minds would offer ten million just to get back a bunch of teenagers that robbed a bank of a couple a thousand dollars!? I should've turned back the minute I heard about that stupid dragon! I mean, even kids these days don't carry around dragons in their pockets."

He looked around back at us, then. "You don't, do you?"

Miguel pointed at Gabriel. "He does."

Deadpool looked as if he might run at any moment. "Fabulous," he said, coming back our way instead. "Well, you just keep your enormous dragon in your pants for all our sakes! At least until I figure out what to do about this whole f..."

**"YOU'LL DO NOTHING!"**

I would like to say that I saw him coming. I really wish I'd see him coming, but I didn't. Deadpool had gotten us all pretty distracted with his ranting, so I didn't hear the creepy guy coming up from behind in the trenchcoat.

"I, Nytro, the Living Bomb, am here to collect the bounty of ten million dollars on your heads. Surrender, or face the wrath of the ancient and superior Kree technology from which I was created from!"

Everyone just stared at him. "You're... who, now?" I asked, plainly.

"I am Nytro, the Living Bomb! Created from superior Kree tech..."

"We heard you the first time!" O-Ren barked. "I can't believe it, but it's actually true, Miguel. There are people out in the world more annoying than you are!"

Miguel should've been insulted by that, but all he did was nod. "It's true," he said, seriously.

"Tremble in fear!" the crazy man called Nytro shouted, loudly.

"What for?" Miguel wondered. "You're superpower is to, what? Blow yourself up! I can put a force field around us now to keep the blast contained and away from us."

"Even if you couldn't," Gabriel added, thoughtfully. "There's probably a spell or two that could get rid of him."

"I could just shoot his brains out," O-Ren offered. "That'd solve the problem all in one."

Deadpool had his guns drawn the whole time, and was looking at us all now like we were bonkers. "Um," he said, nervously. "Are you paying attention? Class is officially now in session, and while I appreciate the jokes made at the self-proclaimed exploding man, it's time to pay attention."

"What for?" Nicole asked. "He's just one guy, and any one of us could probably take him."

"You get used to this sort of thing after a while," I explained, patting him on the shoulder.

"Talk about jaded youth!" he whistled.

"Prepare to suffer!" Nytro screamed, raising his arms.

And, we did. But not by anything that crackpot threw at us. Laser fire came blaring down on all of us again! I took cover with Deadpool behind a rock, more out of coincidence than anything else, and looked up.

The radiation boys were back! "Who are these guys!?" I wondered out loud. "And where do they keep coming from?"

"They're A.I.M.," Deadpool replied. "Super-secret brain trust created to take over the world. All you really need to know about them is that they are top secret, and look very silly."

"You're right, there," I admitted. "What the hell are they doing in our hometown?"

"Probably the same thing I am! Collecting the bounty on all of your heads!"

Wonderful. "So, how do we stop them?"

"We don't," Deadpool said, simply. "I run like a scalded jackrabbit, and hope the rest of you can keep up!"

It sounded like a plan. "Okay!"

Deadpool raised up like he was about to sprint. I had actually thought he was kidding when he said that, but it was still a plan, and beggars couldn't be choosers. That was about the time that I noticed the crazy ranting guy that'd come up on us from behind. He was glowing now, a kind of sick yellow color, and grinning like a man who'd been constipated for days. The air sort of sizzled all around us as laser fire zig-zagged left and right overhead, and I got a very bad feeling all of a sudden. It occured to me, then, that as silly a power as being able to blow yourself up sounded, that didn't necessarily mean it was ineffective.

And then, the whole world exploded all around us.

I woke up much later, with no real idea how much time had passed. We had been moved, so that told me something. I wasn't sure what, since the ringing in my ears made it impossible to think straight. Deadpool was with me in the room we were held in. It wasn't anything like the creepy science fiction place Nicole's parents had been holding us in. That'd been the last time I was knocked unconscious. Waking up in strange places was becoming a theme, it seemed.

You'd think I'd gone off to college!

Deadpool let out a low groan next to me. We were both being kept in these long tubes that stretched to the ceiling, which looked really out of place next to everything else. All around us looked like the living room of somebody's very old grandma.

"Oh!" Deadpool cried out. "Would somebody please tell those nice muppets from the cast of Avenue Q to stop re-enacting the scene from Stomp on my head?! Thanks!"

"That's just the Alpha Wave Remodulator working." Jeff came around a corner and looked up at both of us, smiling kindly. "It'll wear off in just a minute. You both suffered a major concussion. I'm surprised that idiot with the exploding power didn't kill you all. And I specifically requested that you all be brought in alive and unharmed!"

"What?" I groaned, meet his eyes. "You... put the bounty on our heads?"

"Of course! Do you really think I was about to let a bunch of rebel children run around with evidence from my crimes. That's just..."

Jeff laughed then, and it made me sick to my stomach. "You killed all those people," I said slowly, trying to absorb it all into me. "You killed them, and just left their bodies down there to..."

"They were hardly people," he interrupted. "Most of them were just girls, around about your age, really. Nobody ever missed them!"

"I don't believe you!"

"Oh, really? Where were the police reports? I've been getting away with this sort of thing for a very long time now. Much longer, I suspect, than you could possibly imagine! There are all sorts of worlds out there, little Dan. The same old world, just with different flavors to it, but one thing always stays the same."

And then he got this really cruel look on his face. "Parents hate their children."

I wanted to call him a liar, but the words froze deep in my chest. "Can't say it, can you?" he gloated. "Can't deny something if it's true. I always liked that about you, Dan. It'll make stripping the skin off your bones so much more enjoyable!"

"Why?" I demanded, tears running down my face. "Why are you doing this?"

"Oh, right!" he laughed. "Like I'm going to just sit here, and tell you all about my evil plan so you can escape and stop me. Don't even try using that ploy on me, Dan. In another lifetime, I was probably the one who invented it! I'm a genius, you know."

"You know," O-Ren's voice rang out. "For a genius, you're not very bright!"

The flash pulse hit him square in the back. "Thanks for keeping him distracted," she said, giving me a thumbs up.

"No problem," I said, wiping the water from my eyes. "All those drama classes in making yourself cry on command weren't a waste of time after all, huh?"

"Yeah! Yeah!" she grumbled, looking around the room aimlessly. "Where's the release button for those bubble tubes you're stuck in?"

"No idea," I admitted. "How did you get out?"

"Miguel can shapeshift, remember? It just occured to him all of a sudden that he might be able to shift into something that could squeeze between the cracks. Took him long enough to do it, though. My tube was beginning to smell. I really need a shower when this is over with!"

O-Ren leveled her gun at me, and shifted it to the same form Gabriel had used to blow apart the Brood alien. "Sorry about this," she apologized. "I'll keep it on as low as setting I can, but you'll still need to duck and cover. Ready?"

In no way was I ready for her to fire on me with that, but curled up into a ball anyway, and kept my head low. The whole room felt like it shook as O-Ren fired twice. Glass, or whatever these things were made of, came raining down my ears. Deadpool immediately jumped up and stretched.

"You were faking it?"

"The whole entire time!" he crowed, posing. "I was champion drama club wrestler back at Merc High!"

"Where's everybody else?" I asked, ignoring him. "Are they alright?"

"They're fine," she promised, lowering her gun but keeping an eye on Deadpool. "Nicole took a bad spill, but I think she's going to be okay."

As if in answer, they all came around the corner of the hallway. Miguel was taking point, and had shifted to his Thing guise. Nicole was behind with Gabriel, and she had her arm thrown around his shoulders. He was keeping her supported like she weighed nothing. My stomach turned, even though I kept telling myself that he was just helping her walk. I'd have done the same thing!

I should've done the same thing. A long, long time ago.

"You'll never get away with this!" Jeff groaned, getting to his feet. "The others... don't know what they're messing with! You're all going to die, and I'll just escape into another dimension. There are countless ones out there, just waiting for me!"

"Not without this!" Gabriel held up a box in his free hand. It was just this plain old wooden thing, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, but on sight of it, Jeff just went ballistic.

"Give it back!" he screamed. "Give it back to me, now!"

None of us blinked. Jeff didn't make a move towards us, which I guess was proof he did have some smarts in him after all! After a moment went by, in which none of us so much as sneezed, Jeff turned for the door.

"You won't get far in this," he promised. "There's a traitor among you. How else could that snipe Joseph find you so easily? You'll all die when the time comes, and I'll be laughing from the other side of the universe!"

"Go to hell!" O-Ren screamed, and opened fire on his ass.

I think she nailed him a time or two, but he kept on running. I started to go after him, but Nicole made me stop.

"Let him go," she said, pulling out from under Gabriel's arm. "I've got a much better idea."

Moving to the desk, she pulled out a pen from her pocket; the Thamaturgical Inkpen. Scribbling something on a spare sheet of paper, she held it up for each of us to read. It took a second for what she'd wrote to skin in. When it finally did, I started laughing.

_Dear mom and dad,_

_ Just thought you'd like to know that Jeff is a traitor. He placed a bounty on all our heads for ten million dollars, all so he could kill us himself. He's on the run right now. If you find him, please tell him goodbye for us._

We wound up staying in the house. Nicole insisted on it, since we didn't have any other place to go. There was electricity and running water; plus a refrigerator to keep food in. The house was set off to the side, so we didn't have to worry about anyone getting curious. I took a long, hot shower for the first time in what felt like forever. It's amazing how good something like that can make you feel, especially when you've gone for so long without one. It didn't make me feel any better about killing that one guy. Nothing would make me feel better about it. I wanted to talk to Deadpool about that for a little bit; something in my gut said he would understand. He didn't stick around long enough, though.

I did catch him with Nicole for a little bit. They were whispering to one another about something. I don't know exactly what was said, but I have a hunch. I didn't interrupt them, but just kept on walking. If it was what I suspected, then she would want to keep it private. She really wasn't any of my business, anyway.

Not anymore.

I caught her and Gabriel on the couch together two nights later. Gabriel told me that he'd taken the box because his parents had kept one just like it. The coincidence seemed too convenient, and it proved right. We couldn't get it open; not even Nicole's Thieves Blade would work. It sat over on the counter across from them, keeping watch while they snuggled and made out.

I've let it go.

She was never really mine to begin with. I've tried telling myself that many times, but it still hurts like hell. I've been in love with her for two years now, or at least that's what I told myself. Now, I wonder if I wasn't just thinking of her as a different person, so I could give myself someone to like. I'm a romantic fool at heart, it would seem.

We're still on the run, and still hiding. Deadpool didn't say goodbye, nor did he swear to keep his end of the bargain. I wonder sometimes if we'll ever see him again. I wonder if help is really on the way, or if we're just sitting here waiting for no reason. I'm still trying to be strong, but it's not easy. I'm still trying not to be a good guy, even though the thought of killing that stranger who was after us eats away at me. I'd like to talk to somebody about it, but it looks like I'm alone in this one.

We're all alone in this one, but it's different for me. I'm learning that I cannot always get what I want, and not just because the price is too high. Sometimes, you just can't get what you ask for, simply because you can't. I guess absolute power really is just a myth after all. Even the people who have everything really don't have everything.

It's time our parents learned that lesson.

The hard way!


	11. War Machine: Living in Sin

Runaways:

War Machine

Chapter 1

Living in Sin

by Ri-kun

I really needed to pee. Unfortunately, the bathroom downstairs was preoccupied by two certain people who'd ignored me pounding on it for the last ten minutes or so. I would have very much liked to believe that they were just repairing a busted sink, or discussion our next move against the evil organization known as the Pride, but even I couldn't make myself that dense. The only kind of plumbing going on was of a more natural sort. I'd been standing there, wondering why my feet wouldn't just march away up to the second floor, where another bathroom was. The odds were, nobody was having sex in that one. I kept telling myself that, fighting at the same time the mental image of O-Ren and Miguel getting it on together at the same time, but my feet wouldn't move.

And I couldn't really tell myself that I was willing to wait anymore.

My name, by the way, is Daniel Whittaker. Most people who knew me called me Dan, but more recently I adopted the title of Midoriyama. At least, I would have, if anybody around here would use their freakin' code names. We'd sort of dropped the habit after a while. I'd really liked mine, too.

At the moment, our fearless leader and her new beau were relieving some severe tension. We were a secret group of teenage superheroes fighting against our evil supervillain parents. A month or so back, we accidentally stumbled on their opperation, which was a crimminal organization called the Pride. The Pride consisted of a group of evil ninja crime lords, which were my parents; a time travelling serial maniac and collector; illegal interplanetary arms smugglers and alien shapeshifters, which had been Miguel's mother and family; a weapons manufacturing couple on the run from the Triad, O-Ren's mom and dad; mutant terrorists training young mutants to control their abilities for fun and profit, those were Nicole's mother and father; and, finally, an evil cult leader and sorcerer disguised as a preacher and his wife, Gabriel's wicked parents.

We'd stolen a bunch of stuff from them, and went on the run from the Pride and the law, who as it turned out controls every aspect of government in these parts. Nicole had assumed the position of leader, and was doing a good job. My only real complaint with her had to do with the fact that she'd picked my best friend over me. Gabriel had known for a long time that I worshiped the ground she walked on, and had for two years. If anyone was going to engage in illicid behavior behind a bathroom door, it should've been me!

Gabriel must've been doing a good job of things, though. I had to give the skinny kid credit; he and Nicole were making the kind of noises that even National Geographic would blush over. Even Animal Planet would've been too embarassed to air what I was hearing. I was flooded with an overwhelming surge of envy as I shamelessly evesdropped.

I was finding it very hard to hate Gabriel, believe it or not. Hard, but not impossible! He'd taken learning about his mother and stepfather very hard, to the point that it made him even more quiet than before. We hadn't talked for very long in the last couple of weeks, and I don't think it was entirely because of his newfound love with Nicole. I was going to have to clear the air about that, just to learn what was bothering him.

That was almost a good enough excuse for me to try and justify why I was still standing there!

Finally, I had to admit that they were going to be in there for a very long time. My bladder was slowly taking control of my feet, and hacking the system to guide me upstairs to where it could relieve itself. It was slow going, but I grudgingly wandered upstairs. Thankfully, no one was doing the nasty there. I was able to piss at last, but not in peace. The house we were staying in had very thin walls. Whoever designed it must not have taken such things into account, or else was a perverted voyeur with too much time on his hands! I could still hear every single grunt, moan, passionate scream, and curse word coming from downstairs. And if I could hear it, everyone else must know about it, too. What really made my face burn red was the fact that most of the latter came from Nicole! The girl could talk dirty better than any porn star in the business once she got going.

Not that I knew anything about porn.

Really!

I ran into O-Ren back downstairs, after deliberately taking a detour that took me as far from that bathroom as possible. She was in the kitchen with her precious metamorph gun, and had it scattered across the counter in various parts. I couldn't help but marvel at how much care she put into maintaining that thing.

"They still going at it?" she asked me, without looking up.

"What?" I stammered, hoping I wasn't going to turn red again. "Who?"

"Nicole and Gabriel," she clarified, confirming what I already knew. "Are they still boning each other in the hall bathroom? I know you were standing outside for at least ten minutes, and don't try using the excuse that Miguel was in the upstairs bedroom! He's been asleep on the couch for over an hour with the tv on."

There was no point in denying it. "I was just... I mean, I thought maybe..."

"That what?" she demanded, looking up at me with a smug grin. "You'd supervise? Or ask to join in, maybe?"

Now, I was mad. "What about you? I thought you were supposed to be some kind of anti-gun pacifist!"

"Guns are instruments of war," she said, as if quoting. "If there were no guns, people would have no choice but to sit down and talk out their problems instead of shooting each other in the head. I'm just making sure mine is well-managed. Besides, it's the only thing I have that my parents left me."

"Before you found out they were evil?"

"Right," she affirmed. "There's nothing wrong with having a gun. If I don't want to shoot, I don't have to! It's as simple as that. I'm still a pacifist at heart. You, on the other hand, have no excuse for evesdropping on my best friend while she's getting her rocks off with her new boyfriend. Even if you had a crush on her at one point!"

O-Ren picked up the barrel and aimed it right at my chest. "It's your own damn fault for not making the first move!"

I had been saying that very same thing to myself for weeks, but hearing it didn't help. "So, what about you and Miguel?"

That made her stare at me. Hard! "I could shoot you in the head for that."

"He's not such a bad guy. Deadpool was more annoying than him!"

"True," she admitted. "I never thought anyone could be more obnoxious until he came along, but don't think losing out on your first crush gives you the allowance to play matchmaker with me. If Miguel comes near me with anything another than a bad comic book reference, I'll blow his brains out and blame you for it!"

"_Yo-kai_!" I salute, and headed out of the kitchen.

"You're still not really Japanese!"

"One quarter," I challenged.

Miguel was awake on the couch watching Cartoon Network. I sat down in the recliner and watched him for a second, trying to picture what he really looked like underneath his human form. His parents had drugged him with fake medication that kept him looking normal and powerless. Underneath it all, he was supposed to be an alien shapeshifter with all the combined might of the Fantastic Four. It was still hard for him to use his powers, almost as hard as it was for me to picture him with green skin and antenne.

"I thought you were asleep," I said, when he caught me staring.

"It's too noisy to sleep," he told me, shifting a little. "What with all the screwing going on down the hall. Have they given up yet?"

I shook my head, and Miguel laughed. "Slaves to the rhythm! I think they may be going for a personal record."

"Looks like it," I mumbled, quietly. "You'd think they could do something else, like finish decoding the Abstract!"

"Let 'em be. Besides, Nicole said something to me early this morning about wanting to have another meeting. I think she's almost finished with it."

"What?!" That made me stand up. "When did this happen?"

"She's been working on it with Gabriel day and night," he replied, eyes glued to the screen. "When they aren't plowing their brains out, at least. I only know because I got out of bed early to watch cartoons. Nicole asked me to let everybody know."

Miguel stared at me closely, then. "It's okay to be jealous. I mean, I know you liked Nicole for a long time."

That tore it. "Did everybody but me figure that out? I mean, what the fuck?!"

"Not exactly," he admitted. "O-Ren was the one who told me, but I wasn't too surprised. So, why didn't you ever make a move?"

I really didn't want to answer that question, and didn't plan to, but it all came pouring out of me before I could blink. "I... don't know!" I moaned, frustrated. "It just never seemed like the right time! Then this whole mess started, and I wasn't sure if she would think of me the same way. And then Gabriel's mother spilled the beans that time we got captured together..."

"How did she know?"

"I have no idea, really." I hadn't give much thought to it, actually. "Some magick mumbo jumbo voodoo trick, I guess. Nicole wouldn't say anything about it afterwards, though, so I took that to mean she didn't feel the same. Right after we escaped, she ran straight for Gabriel. I just thought it would be better if I stayed out of the way."

"Ahh..."

I don't know what possessed me to ask. My mouth had taken over my brain faster than my bladder had moments earlier! It seemed I needed better security; whatever was inside my mind right now worked about as well as Norton!

"Miguel, have you ever... gotten any before?"

"Once," he said, immediately, unsurprised. "A few years ago."

"Really... what was it like?"

Miguel shrugged, as though it were no big deal. "Honestly, I was expecting a lot more. Maybe it was just because I wasn't with the right girl, but I was disappointed. I haven't been with anybody since then."

"Where was it at?"

"Remember that youth convention they had in Jackson about three years back?"

"I was still in sixth grade. I couldn't go."

"Well, this girl took me by the hand and dragged me into one of the bathrooms. It was the ladies' room, now that I think about it. Anyway, she sat me down on a toilet seat and climbed on top of me. I was so shocked, it was over before it really began."

Then he looked at me. "Don't tell anybody about that part, okay?"

I grinned. "My lips are sealed! But, wait just minute! I thought you said you were a virgin."

"I lied," he replied, calmly. "Mom would've killed me if she found out! I still don't think it had anything to do with me being an alien, either."

We both got a good chuckle about that. "What about your parents?" he pressed. "Would they have been pissed to find out you were getting your freak on?"

"No," I admitted. "Well, my mom maybe, but my dad would've just said it was about time! He was always telling me in private that I needed to go out and get laid soon. My older brother Joseph must've gone through about half the girls in high school before he graduated. Which, now that I think about it, could've had something to do with me staying celebate for so long!"

"Yeah," Miguel nodded. "If I had a brother, I wouldn't want any of his sloppy seconds, either!"

"That always kinda bothered me, too," I added, suddenly. "Being compared to him, I mean. It was bad enough he treated me like shit all the time, but to everyone else, he was the very height of what was cool."

"Even I thought that," he said, admittedly. "He was a senior when I started my freshman year. We had a study hall together, and he let me sit at the same table in the library. I thought that was pretty cool of him."

"Right." That bothered me more than I cared to say out loud.

"Nicole and Gabriel are done with the bathroom." Miguel and I both looked up at the same time to find O-Ren standing there, her big gun in hand. "Just thought I'd tell you that, in case either of you wanted to take care of something in there yourself."

"No thanks," Miguel replied, grinning. "I did that this morning before I climbed out of bed."

"My life can go on, then," she sneered. "Now that I have intimate details of your daily masturbation ritual."

"I still haven't filled you in on what I do before going to sleep!"

O-Ren turned away in response. "Nicole wants to hold the meeting in the kitchen. If you're done watching cartoon shows, why don't the both of you start fixing lunch?"

"Why can't you cook lunch for once?" Miguel grumbled, not moving.

"Because I'm the one with the gun, and you still can't control your powers. Oh, and by the way, Dan! He's never touched a girl in his life. I can smell a virgin a mile away, so the two of you can each quit lying about your fantastic sex lives and start cooking."

Miguel and I spent the next ten minutes or so throwing sandwich meat together. O-Ren had disappeared several minutes ago, and frankly, I wasn't sorry to see her go right now. Miguel spent most of his time grumbling under his breath angrily while adding way too much mayonaise. I really didn't like the stuff, and slid one sandwich aside for myself before he could get to it.

"We should just make Nicole and Gabriel do this instead," he finally declared, after a particularly bad incident with mustard. "As punishment."

"For what? Getting laid when neither of us is?"

"Yes, that's exactly it. No one should be allowed to have sex in this house unless everyone else can!"

"Firstly, I don't see how that could possibly be a good idea, since the ratio of males to females is highly uneven. And secondly, would you really want to eat anything that either of them had prepared right now, knowing where their hands have been?"

That got his attention. "Good point!"

When everyone else joined us, we sat around the kitchen table facing one another. Well, I say facing. It was more like me trying to not make eye contact with Gabriel, and unable to stop looking Nicole's way. O-Ren and Miguel were glaring at each other angrily, and I could feel Gabriel's eyes on me the whole time. The tension was thick enough to cut with a hacksaw.

"This meeting is called to order," Nicole stated. If she could sense what I was, she didn't let on. Nothing seemed to faze her these days.

"First business is our current living situation. I think it would be a bad idea for us to stay here much longer."

"What for?" Miguel said around a mouthful of sandwich.

"Close your mouth!" O-Ren shouted. "You're disgusting."

"Make me!"

"Fine!" she spat, leveling her gun. "I will!"

"O-Ren," Nicole said in a normal tone. "Lower your gun. Miguel, chew your food and swallow before you speak. The rest of you, if you have anything to say while I'm talking, you WILL raise your hand first. Is that understood?"

"Nicole..." O-Ren began. She sounded shocked, but all Nicole did was glare her way until she finally put the metamorph gun down.

"Right," she went on. "Now, as I was saying, I think it would be a bad idea for any of us to stay here. This place is in too occupied an area. I'm surprised no one's heard us and come snooping around."

O-Ren snorted into her drink, but kept her mouth shut. "Why should we leave, though?" Miguel pressed. "I mean, none of our parents know we're here."

"Of course they know we're here," Gabriel cut in. "They've known from day one where we are."

At last, I looked his way. "What?"

"They've always known where we were," he repeated. "Do you really think that Jeff would keep something like that a secret."

"More to the point," Nicole added. "I can't see the Pride letting him keep it a secret."

"So, if the Pride knows where we all are," said Miguel, scratching his head. "Why haven't those A.I.M. bastards stormed in with their guns blazing like they did before?"

"I have a hunch that the reward put on our heads wasn't a unanimus call. They're probably just watching the house right now and tracking our movements. The last thing the Pride wants is another incident like what happened a month ago."

"And assuming the reward is still on our heads," Nicole added. "We're sitting ducks the moment we step outside."

"But we're running low on food," O-Ren pointed out. "We've got to leave at some point. Plus, I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm getting a little stir crazy."

"There's one other thing that ties into all of this. I was saving it for last, but since we're on the topic of leaving, it might as well get laid out on the table." Nicole reached into her bag and pulled out the Abstract scroll. "It's not totally finished, but I've managed to decode what at least I think are the most important parts. One thing that was interesting to me was Jeff's supposedly secret weapon. Remember, he ranted about it when we all woke up here?"

"You think you've found it?" I pressed.

"I'm sure I have," she nodded. "And from the way the Abstract talks about it, it's a really big weapon!"

"Something we could use to defeat the Pride?" Miguel asked, suggestively.

"Glad I don't have to explain it to you," she smiled. "Now, the inate problem is that we can't leave the Townhouse without exposing ourselves. Also, from the way the Abstract reads, this doesn't sound like a weapon we'd be able to just carrying with us wherever we went. If we're going after it, we might as well make this our last day here. Gather up whatever food and supplies we can carry and be ready to leave by sundown."

"Is that it?" I asked. "I mean, the end of the meeting?"

"Unless you've got something to add," she replied.

"I do," Gabriel said. He raised his hand, but was staring my way. "If it's alright..."

I just nodded. "Go ahead."

"Since this was at some point Jeff's house, I think we should do something to commemorate our leaving."

"Like what?"

"Throw a big party," he said, grinning. "And trash the place!"

*****

The elementary school was burning, and it wasn't my fault.

"I should never have drank that much beer," Miguel moaned, while the fires spread all around us. "Why does a youth director have beer in his house, anyway?"

"He's not a youth director; he's a time-travelling psychopath," O-Ren reminded him. "I really don't think the normal rules of social etiquette apply to him. And I warned you not to drink that stuff. Crown Royal cannot be good for alien physiology! It's barely suitable for human consumption."

Miguel let out a rather loud belch, loud enough to be heard over the roaring inferno. "I think she may be right," he groaned. "I should not be buzzing anywhere near this hard now. That stuff should've gone through me..."

Of course, at that moment, the roof would start caving directly overhead. "I got it!" Miguel cried out, stretching his arms up to hold the burning ceiling in place.

"No, don't!" O-Ren cried out, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. I couldn't blame her for trying to warn him, though. Three times before, Miguel had spontaineously lost control of his powers when he tried using them. Alcohol was apparently unsuitable for Super Skrulls, but the effects looked to be finally wearing off. I was just glad the roof hadn't fallen on us, and that Miguel hadn't fried us to a crisp on his own in the process!

"This is all your fault!" O-Ren snapped my way, suddenly. "You and your stupid fire gauntlets!"

"Hey, I didn't know this place was flammable."

"This building was probably put up right after World War Two. The last thing anyone should do is haphazardly fire off jetstreams of napalm in here!"

"It isn't napalm," I said, defensively. "At least, I don't think it is..."

The weapon turned out to be located underneath the elementary school. Well, more specifically, the doorway to it was. I really didn't understand what that meant, and neither did Nicole, I think. All the Abstract would say was that the entrance to where the weapon had been hidden could be found underneath this building.

We were followed on our way here. Everyone had partied hard all afternoon, then packed things up and taken a shower one last time (Nicole and Gabriel had showered together, of course, and used up all the hot water in the process!) I'm not sure if the robots that attacked us the moment we arrived were alien tech, or just another weird invention by O-Ren's parents. She denied it came from her house, naturally, but that only left us with Miguel. And he didn't have the first clue as to how to fight these things!

Which is where I wound up blasting them with my _Shien Tekkon_. I think I may have panicked just a little under the pressure, because something went horribly wrong. The robots, as it turned out, were not harmed in the slightest bit by fire. It would have been helpful to know that beforehand, but I guess it really isn't anyone's fault. They looked like really big, armored turtles! Roasting them had seemed like the way to go.

So, yeah. The fire raged completely out of control, and we wound up trapped in a burning school building with no way out, and Miguel getting tired from holding the roof up for so long. To make matters worse, I had no idea where Nicole and Gabriel were!

"If we get out of this, I swear I'm going to..."

I never got to find out what O-Ren was planning to do. My hunch said it was something painful, and directed solely at me, but the fire all around us abruptly stopped burning. Actually, it froze. And I don't mean that it just stopped moving; it literally froze to ice, which is something I would have never thought possible.

"You can let go of the ceiling now," Gabriel's voice called out weakly. "The pieces should be frozen together now. Sorry that took so long, by the way! This spell takes a few minutes to prepare."

Miguel pulled his hands away from the ceiling ever so cautiously. When nothing fell on us, O-Ren and I both looked up and grinned. Miguel's arms were having some difficulty retracting back to their original length. I remembered that this had always been a power that gave him problems before. Obviously, he hadn't worked it out yet, because they were currently tying themselves up in knots right before our eyes.

"Don't worry!" he cried out, frantic. "I've got this! I've got it!"

I couldn't help it. Both O-Ren and I doubled over at the same time laughing. I could hear faintly off to the side the sounds of Gabriel weezing softly along with us. The spell must have taken a lot out of him, and a whole well of emotions sprang up out of me. I had almost died back there, and my best friend just saved my ass. The same guy I'd been pissed at for weeks now. It wasn't his fault that I'd been such a chickenshit with Nicole, and if memory served, she had gone to him. If we ever got out of this place alive, I intended to sit down with him and talk. Really talk, no matter how many sections of the mancode that violated.

All of this weighed on me being able to stand up and stop laughing, though. My guilt had done nothing to choke the laughter welling up inside of me. If anything, all it served to do was compound it!

"That is enough!" Nicole barked sharply. "Do you people think this is a game?! We almost died just now, and those robots are still after us. Our parents are looking to hunt us down and murder us, and the only thing you guys can do is laugh about it."

"Nicole..." Gabriel said weakly.

"I don't want to hear it," she said coldly. "Just... strap on a pair and get up. You should never have tried a spell that large in the first place if it meant you couldn't walk out of here on your own."

Nicole walked past him without looking his way. I started to reach for him, to help him to his feet, but her voice rang out hard behind me.

"Leave him," she ordered. "If he can't get up on his own, he can wait here for them to take him back."

I would have said something. Really, I was all set to tear her a new one, but O-Ren beat me to it. I would have figured her to just bitch Nicole out for a few seconds, but O-Ren really surprised me. She just stomped right up to Nicole's face and slapped her.

Hard.

"That's enough, yourself," she said quietly. "We're not soldiers in your little army, Nicole. We're all in this together. So we either go together, or not at all! Deal with it."

The slap didn't faze her much, but Nicole was quiet for a second. "This isn't a game, O-Ren."

O-Ren walked away from her, and helped me lift Gabriel to his feet. "The thing is, Nicole," she said, not looking at her. "I think this all really is a game. It's a way for you to get back at your parents. You're just playing games so they'll finally treat you like an adult. The funny thing is, though, this may be a game for you, but that doesn't mean the rest of us have to play it."

Gabriel refused to let us carry him. He did allow us to help him to his feet, but insisted walking on his own power after that. Our eyes met for a second, though, as he was struggling to stay upright, and there were tears in his eyes. I don't think it had anything to do with what Nicole had said, either. He was looking my way, and seemed genuinely apologetic. I had the strangest feeling he wanted to tell me something then, along with the sinking suspicion that all of this was just the tip of something much worse.

I'm usually right about these things.

Damn it!

We didn't run into anymore killer robots afterwards, which felt undeniably wrong to me. All of us were watching out the corners of our eyes, ready for the first sign of an attack. I was trying to tell myself that the fire had finished them off. It was a bold-faced lie, and even I knew it. If flames hadn't affected them on contact, a little thing like a burning school building wouldn't have driven them off. What worried me, though, was the fact that they appeared to have just left on their own. An idea as to why exploded in my head, but Nicole was quick to shoot me down the minute I voiced it.

"We keep going," she stated. "We've come this far. And in case you forgot, we don't have a home to return to!"

It took me a second to realize what she meant. I hadn't thought about it much at the time, but we'd just abandoned the closest thing to a home any of us had since this whole mess started. The Arcade had been more of a clubhouse, but that place had running water and electricity; food and places to sleep! I guess I'd been holding it back, because a massive ache filled my chest all at once. We'd lived with each other there for over a month, and hadn't even thought up a name for it.

I was starting to sound like Miguel!

We kept on going. According to what Nicole had gleened from the Abstract scroll, there was a secret tunnel hidden underneath the school. I should have found that funny, or at the very least, a little ironic. I had attended this school at one point, and it never occured to me once that there was a secret tunnel somewhere underneath that lead to some futuristic superpowered weapon brought from an alternate timeline by a megalomaniac killer. I can't imagine why the thought didn't come to me sooner.

The only problem was, none of us had the slightest idea as to where the tunnel entrance could be located. Nicole said the Abstract had been a little vague on that particular point, so we were basically shit out of luck.

Fortunately, she had a plan. Which, for some reason, left me feeling uneasy.

"Where is Scooby?" she asked, Gabriel, who was still swaying a little. "He can track just about anything."

"I told him to run when..." Gabriel took a deep breath. "...when the fire broke out. Undead dog... fire... bad combination."

"So?" she demanded. "Call him now!"

Gabriel closed his eyes, which I guess meant that he was calling Scooby telepathically. He didn't tip over and fall, which to me was a good sign. Sure enough, the lumbering undead mastiff came slobering our way a moment later. He just ignored the rest of us like we weren't there and went straight for Gabriel. Gabriel leaned down the moment Scooby got close enough, using his head mostly for a crutch, and whispered softly in his ear. It was actually a little funny watching the zombie dog's ears perk up a little bit as he processed what his master wanted. After spreading a layer of undead doggie drool all over Gabriel's face and neck, he took off down the hall with his nose to the tile floor, and we were trotting along after him.

Nicole took point, and no one bothered to object. I guess as far as everyone was concerned, she still held the rank of leader. O-Ren just shouldered her gun and followed after her without a word. Whatever passed between them, she still was ready to march into battle. Though, strickly speaking, I didn't like the look she kept drilling into Nicole's back. Not because it was aimed at Nicole personally, however, but more due to the fact that O-Ren looked as if she were ready to fire laser death rays from her sockets at any second.

Far as I was concerned, there were more than enough weird powers in this group!

Miguel was to my left, following suite with O-Ren by summoning the power of the Thing to his arms. They had swollen up to about three times their normal size, which I will admit left me feeling more than a little bit insecure. I still had my ninja armor on. The bo I usually carried with me was locked in a vice grip between my fingers. I also had my jet hoverboard tucked away in case of emergencies, and the Shien Tekkon to rely on if things got really hairy.

And I'd never felt so scared and vurnerable in my whole life. Here I was, armed for bear; giant mutant cyber-bear with bazookas strapped onto it's backside, and I was ready to piss my proverbial ninja pants.

Nicole was right on the money, however. She stopped quick enough that Gabriel walked right into her, nearly dropping the Word of Mordo in the process. I peeked around them both to get a look at what she'd seen, and breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment, my brain had envisioned those armored turtle tanks roaring back to greet us. My feet had been ready to carry me as far from this place as fast as they could, but the thing that stopped me was remembering that running in the halls wasn't allowed.

My head was seriously fucked up. There was no doubt about it!

Scooby was pawing at the door to the Principle's office. Somehow, it didn't surprise me in the least that the entrance to a futuristic weapon would be in there. I just stood there stupidly for a moment, wondering how we were going to get in. Miguel walked around me when no one else did anything and simply tore the door down off it's hinges and tossed it aside carelessly.

"Shhh!" O-Ren hissed at him.

"Who's going to hear us?" he snapped back defensively.

"Anyone could, the racket you're making. And besides, what if the place has a silent alarm?"

"We'll be out of here before the cops arrive," Nicole responded. "Lets get in there, find that stupid doorway, and get out already!"

For once, I didn't want to argue with her. Scooby had already wandered in without us. I could hear him sniffing around in there like a hoover vaccum. Gabriel was watching the doorway intently, like he were waiting for some kind of signal. I never heard anything, but after a moment, he stepped ahead of us all and rushed inside. We all followed suite, and found him kneeling down on the carpet petting a very pleased-looking Scooby on the head.

Nicole walked over to them. "The door?"

Gabriel pointed behind them to a blank wall. It was the only spot devoid of any pictures or awards. Yet she was glaring at it as though she could see something we couldn't.

"Umm, Nicole?" I heard Miguel say nervously behind me somewhere.

"Quiet!" O-Ren told him. Nicole acted as though she hadn't heard him at all.

"Nicole!" he said again. "Remember how you said we'd be out of here long before the cops showed up?"

Now I was listening. "Why?" I asked. Miguel was peeking out the window at something. I was sure I could see flashing strobe lights coming around the edges, and that nearly made my heart stop.

"I know how to get us in," Nicole said confidently from behind us.

"The cops are here, Nicole," Miguel said, trying to sound calm. "Just thought you should know, I mean."

O-Ren looked Nicole's way, who proceeded to ignore her. "There was no silent alarm," she stated. "They were on their way long before we broke into the office." There was a pause, and then...

"Our parents sent them."

"Of course," Gabriel said, standing up. "So, what do we do about it?"

"We get the weapon," she replied, as though it were obvious. "And then give them a message to take back to them for us!"

I'm not exactly sure how Nicole worked out opening that invisible door. I mean, I'd always known she was really smart; it was one of the reasons I'd developed a crush on her in the first place. Nothing like a sexy math chick to get the blood (and other things) pumping! This was going above and beyond the call of algebra though, in my opinion. She just stared at that spot for a couple of seconds more, then moved her hands around like she were pressing invisible buttons on an invisible control pad.

And then a glowing door just opened up.

I'm not kidding!

It felt really weird to step through. I had this whole vague impression that my molecules were being turned inside out and on their ends or something. Funny thing was, none of it hurt the whole time. It was just strange.

And then, we saw it. The whole reason that we'd come all this way, fought killer turle monster tanks, and nearly gotten killed about a hundred times in the process. It would have been impossible to miss if I were blind! Honestly, I wasn't exactly sure what I'd been expecting. Maybe a bomb or something, or some really cool laser weapon that could fit in Nicole's bag. But...

It was a giant robot.

I shit you not! It was a giant, honest-to-goodness robot!

It was a giant robot, and I had just thrown about the biggest erection of my life!

"This," I breathed. "Is unbearably cool!"


	12. War Machine: Wild in the Streets

Runaways:

War Machine

Chapter 2

Wild in the Streets

by Ri-kun

I was crawling out of a war zone. The whole place looked like one great big A-bomb had nuked it completely. Pictures from my old history class depicting Hiroshima didn't do what I was looking at justice. Nothing nuclear had happened here, though. All of this was done by something very big with two legs, standing altogether about fifty or sixty feet tall.

In other words, a robot.

There was no sign of Nicole. For once, I wasn't worried about her because of a lingering crush. That robot, whatever it was, had zeroed in on her the moment it woke up. I have no idea why. The way Miguel was yelling at her to move, however, told me he might have some idea. I made a mental note to ask him, provided of course, he was still alive after I dragged his carcass out from under the rubble. All questions pended on that one little detail.

I heard moaning from the other side of the rubble pile I'd crawled out from. Before I could get to it, Gabriel hauled himself up out from a bunch of broken concrete and wooden slabs. Overall, there was minimal damage to his body. I was just trying to work out how he could have survived something like that, when a desperate whimper came from the spot just behind where he'd emerged from. Scooby looked a little worse for wear, which didn't make much sense once I reminded myself that he was already dead. There was some reassurance in that, at least.

Gabriel held up the Word of Mordo as though he'd been reading my thoughts, then silently patted his dog on the head. "Is everyone else okay?" he asked me, looking around at once.

"I have no idea," I coughed. "I just climbed out myself. How were you able to..."

"Counterfeit spell," he answered. "Allows me to copy a close friend's ability just once. I borrowed the Invisible Woman's force field power from Miguel long enough to shield Scooby and myself. It wore off pretty quickly, though. After that, Scooby used his bulk to keep most of the rubble off me."

"Good boy!" I told him, scratching behind his ears. "Very good boy!"

One ear fell off as I was brushing against it. I couldn't help myself; I jerked my hand away like he'd snapped at it, and quickly rubbed imaginary dead dog cooties off my fingers. Gabriel just calmly picked the ear up and placed it back on the dog's head, who was watching me the whole time like he couldn't figure me out. The ear reattacted itself at once, like it had never come off to begin with. The miracle of nercromancy, I guess!

"We need to get the others out now," said Gabriel, scanning the area. "Last I remember, this place was surrounded by cops before we entered that weird doorway."

I had completely forgotten about the cops! "Right!"

Gabriel looked down at his pet dog. "Scooby, please find the others. Hurry!"

Scooby at once began sniffing the ground diligently. After going around in circles a few times, he managed to lock onto someone's scent. I had no idea who it was, but apparently Gabriel did.

"It's Nicole," he told me, as we followed after the undead Mastiff. "He's found where she is. I think Miguel is there, too!"

"How can you tell?" This might not have been the time, but I really wanted to know how he could guess something like that.

"We're connected to one another. It's like I can understand what he's smelling a little bit."

"Oh." That made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever!

We found O-Ren as we were looking for Nicole and Miguel. Scooby ran right past her like she didn't exist, which made me think Gabriel had put finding Nicole ahead of everything else inside Scooby's head. He and I both stopped, however, to make sure she was alright. Amazingly, she looked really well for an underaged gun nut who'd been trapped underneath a collapsing school building.

"I was thrown out of the way," she told me, when I remarked on that. "Dunno how it happened, but I landed off to the side just outside where the building was. Maybe when that robot brought the room down on us, it teleported everybody to a different location?"

I watched as she shouldered her gun and followed suite. "It's possible," I reasoned. "You're starting to sound like Miguel, you know that?"

"Say that again," I heard her growl. "And I will blow your balls off and stick them into a microwave."

"Got it."

It wasn't easy getting everyone else out; especially Miguel. He had tried using Mr. Fantastic's stretching powers again to keep the roof off Nicole and himself. While I admired his bravery, it was no easy feat yanking each and every extended limb out from under that fallen support beam. When we finally got him out, it was another ten minutes or so before he could pull himself together. Just to pass the time, we reconvened on what each of us remembered happening.

"That robot went apeshit when it saw you, Nicole," I said, fixing my eyes on her. "Any idea why?"

"It was a Sentinel," Miguel answered for her. "They were a bunch of robot police... Dammit! Stupid arm! Anyway, a bunch of robot police created to hunt down the X-Men. Retract already!"

"Why the X-Men?" I wondered aloud.

Everyone looked at me like I was an idiot. "Because they're mutants," Nicole said, as if that explained everything.

"So, Jeff's secret weapon of ultimate power is a mutant-hunting giant robot?"

"Looks that way," O-Ren nodded. "He probably snatched it up to use against Nicole's parents. Sounds like his style, if you ask me."

"We didn't," Nicole said. "But, you're probably right. The question is, where did the robot go?"

I was an idiot, after all. I'd been so intent on finding everyone else that it didn't dawn on me. The robot had to have escaped from that weird dimensional room, or whatever it was, when we did! That meant it was probably roaming around on it's own right now. I looked up and checked overhead to make sure. The thought of a dangerous robot hovering overhead waiting to blast us all wasn't what I wanted to see, and I felt really guilty at the relief that went through me when I saw that it wasn't anywhere around us.

"It must've stomped off on it's own," O-Ren replied.

"It shouldn't be hard to track, then." Nicole was back in charge again. "Let's go see which way it went."

I followed everyone out of the crater, which was all that had been left of the elementary school. The robot was very thorough, at least. It didn't occur to me what we might find once we cleared the top of the hill. I realized once my eyes landed on the wasteland before us that my brain hadn't wanted me to. I didn't want to take in what I saw now. It was making my stomach do cartwheels, and we hadn't seen the worst of it yet!

Police cars had been squashed. I mean, literally squashed like pancakes! They were flatterer than copper pennies. The ones that had avoided being stepped on were flipped over on their sides and blown completely apart. Flames roared out of them, providing just enough light for me to see the dead bodies scattered around. Several of the cops had guns clutched in their hands. They had held on to them even in death, which meant most of them had gone down fighting. They'd taken one look at that monstrosity and opened fire. Something in my gut told me that bullets had no effect whatsoever. These men had chased us everywhere we ran, going on the orders of our parents. They'd been one of the reasons we couldn't trust anybody, and yet I couldn't help but feel sorry for them.

They were all dead, and it was our fault. We let that thing out by accident!

"Dan, come on."

It was Gabriel talking to me, but my head didn't register that right away. I turned to look at him in slow motion, like one of those annoying reels in tv movies. There was so much worry in his face as he watched me that I had to pull myself together. He seemed afraid of what I was going to do for a second, so I tried to smile. It was the worst possible time to smile, but the effort was worth it. It helped me get my shit together enough and put my arm around his shoulder.

"Let's move," I said loudly, so everyone could hear. "We've got a big-ass robot to hunt down and stop."

"Great," O-Ren nodded. "So, how are we going to catch up with it. We don't have any wheels, remember?"

"We could take one of those," Gabriel said, pointing.

I followed his slightly trembling finger, and spotted it at once. It was one of those mobile turtle tanks that'd followed us out here earlier. It was laying on it's side, and looked to be knocked out of commission. Nicole seemed to consider it for a moment, then trailed off calmly towards it. We all followed her, albeit at a much slower pace. No one, including myself it seemed, wanted to get very close to one of those things again.

"Can you get it running again?" O-Ren asked.

"It isn't broken," she replied, looking back our way. "Some of it's systems have been knocked offline, and it needs to be righted of course, but it should do nicely. I'll need to get into the computer systems with you once we're inside, just so it doesn't drop us off at our parents' house."

O-Ren shook her head, but stepped forward agreeably. "Guess that means it's your turn, Brickhead!"

"It's clobberin' time!" Miguel roared, cheerfully, shifting his arms to the Thing's power again.

I marvelled with a perverse sort of curiosity at how all of us could make jokes at a time like this. We were standing in what amounted to a graveyard. People had died just moments ago, but we had taken it all in stride like it was no big deal. Miguel reached out and with a single punch knocked the tank back on it's wheels. O-Ren and Nicole climbed in first to do whatever technical voodoo they needed to do.

"Hey guys?" Miguel whispered, moving in close.

"What?" I hissed back in a fake whisper, lowering my head a little.

"Very funny. Since when was Nicole very good with computers?"

"I... dunno. Is it important?"

"Maybe." He wasn't looking at me, but at Gabriel. "She was able to open that invisible door like nothing. And the way she figured out where it was just by staring... Doesn't that seem kinda weird."

"And our lives are normal?" I pointed out. "Nicole was always one of the smartest girls in school."

"I think that may be what he means, Dan." I didn't like the look in Gabriel's eyes for some reason. "She's been getting smarter every day for a while now. I've noticed it since we started..."

Dating? Socializing? Fucking like rabid jackrabbits in spring? All were words I wanted to use, but held in. It wasn't any of my business that Gabriel jumped at the chance to bag Nicole. "Right," I nodded. "So, she's been getting smarter. What is that supposed to mean?"

"She comes from a family of mutants."

"Mutants?" I was confused. "But, her parents took her powers away with some weird virus. She can't be a mutant."

"We're ready!" O-Ren called to us, loudly. "Get your asses in gear and climb aboard boys!"

I guess the conversation would have to be suspended until after killer robot hunting. None of the guys said a word to me as we climbed through the hole in the top of the shell. They'd definitely given me something to postulate as the turtle roared to life and took off in the direction of the carnage.

Kamegami was on the prowl!

*****

I wasn't the one doing the driving. O-Ren had seized the wheel the moment we landed inside, which immediately made me uncomfortable. The last several rides we had were trashed at some point, and one of them had been my red Spyder convertible. O-Ren had been driving it at the time, without the keys and without my permission. For some reason, I had a really good feeling about this hunk of metal and didn't want to see it get trashed. From the looks on their faces, everyone else was thinking the exact same thing!

Granted, O-Ren was doing a better job that I thought she would. Of course, we were pretty much rolling over everything in our path, disregarding all traffic laws and the rights of pedestrians. None of this, I was sure, would help convince people that our generation were safer drivers than given credit for. But, then again, there really wasn't anyone left alive at the moment that we could see to pass judgement on us. That Sentinel robot was making quick work of everything in its way. Good news for those of us who were following it; bad news for when we actually managed to catch it.

Up ahead, flashing red and blue lights suddenly filled the monitors. "Someone called the cops!" O-Ren cried out, gripping the steering controls. "They won't show up when someone's house is being robbed, but a giant robot?!?"

"What the hell makes any of them think they're a match for that thing?" Gabriel mumbled.

I had to wonder what made us think we were a match. "They're doing it on orders of the Pride," Nicole said at once. "Otherwise, the military would have been brought in."

Smoke rolled in over the police cars, obscuring them from our view for a moment. "Hold back, O-Ren!" Nicole ordered. "Something is going on up there."

Something was indeed 'going on' up there. A bunch of cultists in full-on sorcererous garb, like something right out of a Solarus convention, just materialized in front of the cops and opened up on the robot's mechanical ass. A few of the cops looked just as shocked as we were, but then turned and kept right on firing. The Sentinel was ready for them, though.

"It's programed to handle all aspects of the Pride," Nicole answered, as if reading my thoughts. "Jeff made sure it was loaded to capacity with all knowledge of the Pride's skills and abilities. It can take anything they dish out at it."

"So, it's no ordinary Sentinel robot," Miguel finished. "That means... whatever we throw at it, it can throw right back at us, only harder?"

"Okay," I breathed out, slowly. "Who's all for turning tail and running away?"

"I am!" Miguel said at once, raising his hand.

"Nay!" O-Ren objected, looking around. "But only because he voted 'yes'. Let's get the hell outta here, Nicole. Waking that thing up was a stupid idea!"

Nicole looked at all of us. Gabriel had refused to say anything, but my gut told me that wasn't because he was abstaining. "We need that robot to fight our parents," Nicole said slowly, as if testing each word in her mouth. "It knows more about them than we ever could. Even if we had to destroy it, the mainframe computer inside of it could..."

"We'd be dead before dawn," Gabriel cut in. "All of my big spells are used up, Nicole. If I try to cast anything else to take that thing out, it'll bring me down with it. And if the spells those bastards out there are using don't phase it, nothing O-Ren or Miguel could come up with would work, either."

I didn't like how I wasn't being factored into the equation. "We could go see Jeff!" I broke in. "Jeff would know how to deal with this thing. It was his robot to begin with, right? He brought it to this timeline with whatever fucked up time travel magic he uses. No offense, Gabriel!"

"None taken," he replied. "And... not a bad idea, actually."

"What makes you think Jeff will tell us anything?" O-Ren countered, glaring. "Last I checked, the guy was a total psycho. He made that Deadpool freak look like a comedy act for a sideshow! How are we supposed to get information out of him?"

"We could offer to sell him your body?" Miguel quipped, smirking.

"Not funny," I told him. "Remember what was in that guy's basement?"

For the recond, he looked properly ashamed. "Sorry," he said, looking at the floor.

"We'll find a way to make him talk. But first, we have to get to him."

"By all probability, he should be located at his central house right now." Everyone turned at once to stare at Nicole. "It's his base of operations. He'll want to watch the fireworks from the comfort of his home, where he feels the safest."

I was starting to think that maybe Gabriel and Miguel were on to something. Nevertheless, O-Ren peeled out of the road and rolled Kamegami back the way we'd come. It would take at least twenty minutes to get to the other side of town from here. O-Ren, it seemed, had the idea to take a few shortcuts, however. Several well-manicured lawns and more garden gnomes than could be counted later, we were headed out down the main highway into town, where all of this had started, and where I was praying silently it would end.

Somehow I knew before we got there that things were only beginning.

*****

Jeff's house gave me the creeps. The sort of creeps I only used to get after watching that stupid horror movie with the killer psycho doll in it with Joseph on Halloween night. He had insisted there was nothing to be afraid of. I wound up staying up three nights straight hiding under the bed, after throwing away all of my G.I. Joe action figures. They had looked mighty suspicious after that. When dad found out, he bought me this My Buddy doll to leave on Joseph's bed while he was sleeping. Let's just say that breakfast was an interesting experience the next morning. I had never seen him shake that hard.

That's about how hard I was shaking at the moment. My knees were knocking, my heart was pounding, my knuckles were clicking together, and my adam's apple kept jumping up and down in my throat. I was noiser than a troop of band geeks out on parade! None of us looked all that great at the moment. This was, after all, the place where we first learned about Jeff's little hobby. And that had led us all to discovering what our parents were up to. It had only been a couple of months, but it felt like a lifetime or three ago. A lot of history lay inside that house for us; it was safe to say that pretty much all of it was bad!

I had to be the one to walk up to the front door. It felt like such a stupid idea when I got there, but my brain was still a little on the decaffinated side. No one had suggested how we make our way in. It was assumed that going through the basement was out. No one wanted to see that little chamber of horrors again. And it wasn't as though there were a shortage of windows, but I walked right up to the front door and knocked.

When no one came, I tried ringing the doorbell. Everyone had taken their positions on either side of the door in case it opened. I hadn't heard Nicole give the order, but it was a good idea nonetheless. On the third ring, the door swung open. Jeff stood there in all his glory, and I do mean _glory_. He had come to the door in his boxers and bathrobe. There was a razor in his left hand, and a five o'clock shadow on the right side of his face. Clearly, we had caught him in the middle of something, but I was relieved. This was actually much better than a couple of other things our former youth minister did in his free time.

I caught him in the abdomen with my staff. Jeff dropped the razor to the floor and backed far enough away for me to sweep it aside. There was no way of knowing if this razor did anything more than just slice off facial hair, but I wasn't taking my chances. The others came in right behind me and surrounded him. Miguel had fists full of fire; it looked like he could use that power only when he was mad enough. Gabriel had Scooby pin him up against the wall, and one hand was glowing a sharp green color; while O-Ren looked as if she was going to fire any second on sheer principle alone.

"Sorry to jump in on you like this, Jeff," I said in a remarkably clear voice. "But we were wondering if you had time to answer a few questions."

Jeff had been roving his eyes between all of us before I spoke, at which point he zeroed in on me. "Not at all," he replied calmly. "Would you prefer to do it here, or maybe the living room would be better. I've just made some popcorn."

Great. A break-in and interrogation with popcorn. That was Jeff for you!

The living room was just as I remembered it. That was the bad part about all of this. Everything in here reminded me of how things used to be. The big screen television was turned on, and tuned into a channel I didn't recognize.

"Something the matter?" Jeff inquired, sounding concerned.

"No," I said quickly. "What we want to know is..."

"How to stop the Sentinel robot the five of you woke up by accident?" he finished. "I'm assuming, of course, that this was an accident, and none of you meant to send that thing reeking havok across town on your folks? They've been very worried about you, incidentally. Calling me at all hours of the night asking whether I know anything."

Jeff chuckled. "They still seem to think that I keep tabs on you all the time."

"How did you know about the robot?" Nicole interrupted.

Jeff gave her a wicked grin, which made me think he was imagining some very naughty and un-youth minister-like thoughts about her. I brought my staff up to his throat to help him stay focused. "How did you know?" I repeated.

Jeff just smiled at me and pointed towards the tv screen. "See for yourself! I've been watching what was going on for some time now."

The robot was on the screen. I don't know how I could have missed it, but the Sentinel robot was on the tv! Some part of my brain whispered frantically that this could be just another of his tricks, but then it stepped on a very familiar-looking Pizza Hut.

"Hey!" I yelled. "I used to eat there, rust bucket!"

"How... how is he doing that?" O-Ren actually lowered her gun a little, prompting Nicole to rib her in the elbow.

"It's not a news report," Nicole said, slowly. "It's like... he can watch somehow from right here."

"All of the Pride are watching right now," Jeff was saying. "They each have their methods of keeping tabs on what happens in the city. Call it 'Pride TV' if you want, or does that sound a little queerish? Definitely not a part of your local cable package, though, and mine's the only one that can provide information on the past and future!"

"None of this has happened yet, then?"

I let Nicole take over with the questioning, then, because I just realized he wasn't in the room with us. Neither was Scooby, for that matter. Stepping away from Jeff, I pointed at O-Ren to keep her gun trained on him, then slid over to where Miguel stood with his hands and hair still on fire.

"Where's Gabriel?" I hissed.

"Bathroom."

He pointed back down the hallway to empathize. "He couldn't hold it?!"

"I saw Nicole whisper to him just before he left. I think she might have sent him to go snooping around."

That made me mad. "He shouldn't have gone alone, least of all in a place like this! What if something happens to him?"

"He's got Scooby with him, remember?" Why had I forgotten that? "He'll be fine."

"If you two are done whispering to each other," Jeff suddenly called out. "Honestly, I feel like I'm back at Pride headquarters. All of you remind me so much of your own parents, you know that? Always running around like nutjobs whenever something goes wrong, pointing weapons in my face, and demanding that I fix everything. I mean, really! I'm not the one who let that robot loose."

"Neither did we!" O-Ren bit at him. "At least, not exactly. And besides, you brought that thing to this timeline, so you know how to stop it."

"I did no such thing," he countered. "It was already here. I just showed the other Pride members how to modify it. None of your parents trusted me to have something like that all to myself. I'm really more like you bunch than they are."

Jeff stopped for a second. "Maybe it's because I never had kids of my own," he said thoughtfully. "Or, maybe it's just because I wanted to murder all of theirs."

"I'm really glad that you're letting us know how you feel," O-Ren spat at him. "It really warms my heart. Now, either shut your fucking mouth, or start explaining to us how we shut that robot down. Otherwise, I pump your sorry psychotic ass with hot plasma!"

"You're not going to kill me," he responded, calmly.

"No, she isn't going to kill you," I agreed. "Are you?"

"Watch me!"

"Superheroes don't kill, O-Ren," Miguel told her. "And besides, we need him alive to get information from him. He knows that, already!"

"He's right. I do." Jeff was grinning that silly grin of his, again. I remembered when I used to like that about him. "But, there's one question I have to ask, because it's been bothering me since all of you showed up here."

Everyone looked at each other, but it was Nicole who met his challenge. Of course.

"What?"

"Why do you want to stop the robot?"

I looked at him. "You've been watching the tv, right? It's going on a frikkin' rampage! It's..."

"In a town that is completely and utterly in the pocket of your parents," he finished. "This entire city is the base of operations for the Pride. They live here, and this is where their central headquarters is. That robot has a failsafe program installed in it. Just something I never bothered to remove. If it wakes up, and not one of the Pride members is there to give it instructions, it will automatically default to its original mutant-hunting objective."

"You're saying it will go after Nicole's parents first?" I demanded.

If Nicole was bothered by this, she wasn't letting it show. "Not just hers," he went on, glancing her way. "I might have tweeked that program ever so slightly. Instead of hunting just mutants, it will go after anyone and anything that's connected to the Pride organization. You were the ones who woke it up, which means it should be stomping all over the Whittaker's territory any minute now."

I paled. I don't know why, but I paled. In that one instant, I wasn't a runaway anymore. I wasn't trying to avenge the wrongs that my mother and father might have committed since before I was born. I wasn't looking down on a muderous psychopath with delusions of grandeur. My mom and dad and older brother were in danger at this very second, and this creep had known all along. I had to go help them.

I was halfway out the door when Miguel grabbed me from behind. "Let me go!" I screamed at him.

"You can't just go running after them," he yelled back, holding on tightly. "That's exactly what he wants!"

"Miguel, let me go!"

"No, not until you listen!"

"You're hands are still on fire!"

The heat was unbearable. Luckily, this ninja outfit was apparently still somewhat flame retardant. I should've figured that out when we were caught in that blaze at the elementary school. Miguel immediately dropped me and backed off.

"Sorry about that," he mumbled, looking properly embarrassed.

"So this is the troop that's going to thwart the entire all-powerful Pride," Jeff sneered. "Oh, I know I'm quaking in my extend-O-boots right now."

"Did you just use the word 'thwart' in a sentence?" O-Ren countered, her gun in a new form, and aimed right at Jeff's head.

"He has a pair of extend-O-boots?" Miguel asked, curiously.

"Shut up, Miguel!"

"Shut up, all of you!" Nicole shouted.

"Guys?"

Gabriel was finally back. Seeing him made me feel relieved, though I wasn't entirely sure why. He didn't look so great at the moment, and I suddenly had a sick feeling as to why that could be.

"I think you all need to come down here," he went on, slowly. "I've... found something."

It was the basement. Of course, it would be the fucking basement; the one place in this entire insane asylum that I absolutely did not want to go. Gabriel had to go checking down there while we were all chatting in the living room and find something. Hadn't we learned something from last time? Apparently not, because here we were, all gathered together again about to go down those steps and find who-knew-what! At that moment, I wanted to feed Gabriel to his stupid, slobbering zombie dog. Scooby was the one who went in first, followed of course by us meddling kids.

I really hated irony.

There was a girl down there. Believe it or not, the first thing that came to my mind was that she was really cute. Alive, and really, really cute actually. What bothered me about thinking this was the fact that she'd been strapped to some kind of elaborate death trap like in that movie 'Saw', and that it didn't register right at first. Obviously, we needed to get her free. And then, I needed to do something about getting laid. Listening to Gabriel and Nicole boink themselves silly was affecting my brain more than just a little.

No one was saying anything. Jeff looked as though nothing out of the ordinary was going on, which, in his case, was probably the truth. I couldn't figure out in that moment what kind of person he was. I just couldn't understand the appeal of this. What makes a guy that I'd known and liked for several years now go out and kidnap girls my age to bring back to his basement and slaughter? Hadn't he ever heard of computer dating? Or, for that matter, just getting a stupid cat!?

"Let her go," I said flatly, turning my bo on him. "Get her out of there right now."

"Or, what?" he asked, amused. "You'll... beat me to death with your stick? Run me down while flying uncontrollably on that jetboard you stole? Burn everyone to death with flame gauntlets you forget you have about half the time?"

Ouch, that hurt. "Why do the rest of you keep him around?" he asked, throwing his hands out. "He doesn't have any powers, unless you count the ability to stay alive despite numerous near-death experiences! And it can't be for his sense of humor. I'm not trying to start a fight here, but this has been bothering me for a while now. What good is he to the rest of you?"

"Let her go," I said again, and hoped my voice didn't really just crack a little. Please, just this once, let it have been my imagination.

Jeff was looking at me like he actually felt sorry for me. This piece of trash was pitying me! "No offense, but your brother really is the better ninja of the two. Maybe, your father was right in bring him to the Hand instead of you. Isn't that why you keep playing at being something you aren't?"

"Cut the psychoanalyst crap," I barked in his face. "And get her out of here right now!"

"As you wish," he said, shrugging. Jeff raised his left hand, and I saw it contained the razor he'd been holding earlier. He still hadn't put it down. Something in my head clicked that this was a very strange thing to do, and that I should have probably taken note of it before now. The top part of it came off, and I had about half a second to realize that a normal razor did not resemble anything like what was underneath there. It wasn't a weapon as far as I could tell, but something in my gut said that this was bad.

Before I could yell for help, Jeff lowered the razor-thingie with the bright lights at the tip in the girl's direction. Something went 'beep', and there was this big flash of light. A door opened up behind her just like the one in the principle's office that took us to where the Sentinel robot was kept. The chair she was strapped to slid backwards through it, and the girl was gone.

Just gone.

There was a lot of screaming afterwards. Gabriel had Scooby pin Jeff up against the wall. O-Ren shot the razor out of his hands, just to make sure he couldn't do the same thing to any of us. Nicole gave instructions while everyone else secured him and dragged his ass back up the stairs to the kitchen. O-Ren kept her gun trained on him. Gabriel had summoned some kind of magical chains out of thin air to wrap him in while Scooby kept a firm grip on his leg, and Miguel was taking great care to bang Jeff's head into as many things as he could while carrying him. Me, I just followed along quietly feeling a bit hollow on the inside.

"We have to know how to control that robot," Nicole said, once we'd settled down in the kitchen. "It's the key to winning the war against our parents."

"What about the girl?" O-Ren asked.

"The robot takes priority," Nicole replied. "It's the reason why we came here. We can't let ourselves get distracted."

"We can't leave that girl to die, Nicole." Miguel was the one who said it, but I'd been thinking the same thing. "If we do..."

"It'll be just like we'd killed her ourselves," Gabriel finished. "Nic, I'm sorry but... I'm with them on this one."

She was quiet for a moment. "I disagree," she said finally. "But alright. The girl and the robot, Jeff."

"I just did like he asked," he laughed. "I let her go. None of you specified where she should go to!"

"The robot," she pressed. "How do we control it?"

"You should be more worried about the girl," he giggled. "Isn't that what real 'heroes' do? I mean, all you kids ever did was watch tv! Surely, you must've picked up on that much by now!"

Nicole stood up slowly, staring him down. "We aren't heroes, Jeff. I came here for a reason, and I'm not leaving before I get the information I want. For the last time, how do I control the robot!"

"And the girl," Miguel added. "We need to know where he sent the girl."

Nicole glared at him. "Where is she, Jeff?"

"Go fish!"

I didn't like the look in her eyes, then. Something told me that she was going to do something we might all regret. My gut wasn't wrong. I watched as Nicole walked over and started going through all the kitchen drawers. She stopped at the third one, and pulled out this huge-ass steak knife that glittered brightly under the light. Nobody moved an inch.

"Tell me what I want to know," Nicole said quietly, coming back to stand over him. "Tell me, and this doesn't have to happen."

I looked down at the knife she was holding. Nicole had seized one of his hands; the left hand he had used to transport that girl away from us. She was holding the blade over one of his fingers, just an inch or so away. I should have felt sick, but kept right on watching her instead.

"You won't do it," he whispered. "No matter what your parents did to your brain, you won't go that far. I know everything there is to know about each and every one of you. None of you have what it takes to go this far!"

"You don't know us at all," Gabriel hissed.

"I know more about you than you could imagine," he jeered. "I've been through all of your timelines, through every choice each of you might have made. I understand how you think especially, Gabriel. I know what's in your heart, and I know the secret you've been keeping from everyone else. And it won't be long before they know, too!"

Thankfully, we didn't all turn to stare at him at the same time. That would've been way too cliche, and I suspect it was exactly what he wanted from us. "You say that you know all of us," I spoke, getting up from my chair. "Does that mean you know me, too?"

Jeff looked at me, but didn't answer. "I said, do you know more about me than I do as well, Jeff? Have you been peeking through my life and my future?"

Something in his eyes flickered. "Don't..."

I held my hand out. "Give me the knife, Nicole."

She didn't move at first. "It may be our only chance!" she whispered.

There was a desperate look in her eye. I did my best to ignore it. "He's right," I said. "You just don't have it in you. He's a killer, so this is his area of expertise. Torturing people is how he gets his gollies, so if anyone would know whether we were capable or not, it would have to be him."

I took the knife from her as she held it out to me slowly. "It's okay," I told her, softly. "Everything's going to be okay."

I went to the drawer where she had gotten it from. Jeff must spend a lot of time sharpening his kitchen utensils, because even the butter knifes looked nasty. There was a much smaller blade tucked in a slot beside the spoons. That seemed funny to me for a split second, but I ignored it, picked the smaller knife up, and shut the door. All eyes were on me as I walked back over to stand where Nicole had been only seconds ago.

"Steak knives are good for show," I said quietly. "But for fingers, you need something small and razor sharp. This looks like it'll do just fine, doesn' it, Jeff?"

"Don't do this," he whispered, struggling against Miguel fruitlessly. "You don't know what you're up against."

"We want to know where you sent that girl," I said, holding the knife over his thumb. "Tell us, and we'll leave you alone. You'll never have to see us again if you want, but we're going to put an end to this."

"There's more to that robot than you know," he begged. "They made me build it. They were using it to blackmail me. There's something inside there that..."

"Jeff..." I said, barely a whisper anymore. "The girl?"

His eyes met mine. "Please..."

I lowered the knife.


	13. War Machine: Breakout

Runaways:

War Machine

Chapter 3

Breakout

by Ri-kun

We were riding along in Kamegami silently. All eyes were on me, but I kept mine glued straight ahead on the road. O-Ren hadn't argued with me when I slid into her spot at the control board to drive. I really don't think anyone wanted to argue with me, probably for the rest of their lives. It would have bothered me, but my insides felt way too hollow. It wasn't like the time I figured out that Nicole and Gabriel were dating. That was light years away now, and besides felt completely different. It was like I'd gone to some peaceful, numb place inside. No one had told me this place even existed, but it felt nice. I could stay like this forever, but a voice buzzing in the back of my ear whispered that it would be gone way too soon for my own liking. That was always just the way it went; when you're feeling good, someone's gotta ruin it for you.

Up ahead was our target. I reduced speed and brought Kamegami to a stop outside at the edge of the parking lot. It looked like our big bad buddy hadn't stomped his way through this part of town yet, but the street was deserted. That made me think that things were about to get worse for some reason, so I made sure to check that everyone was prepared.

"This is it, I guess," I told everybody. "You know, no one has to come with me if they don't want to."

"I'm going," Gabriel said at once, getting to his feet. Scooby followed suite at once, panting happily. I had an odd sort of chill go through me then, but pushed it aside. Whatever ominous fortelling it meant, this just wasn't the time. I had to stay focused if this was going to get done.

"Okay," I sighed, resignedly. "The rest of you are headed after the Sentinel. Once we find the girl, I'll..."

It suddenly dawned on me that we really didn't have any kind of communications equipment. I could have used my cell phone if it were with me, but my gut said the Pride was keeping a close watch on all the transmission signals going in and out of town. This made me feel like a dunce, but I was determined not to get myself down over it.

"We'll catch up with you once we have her," I finished. "Anybody got something they'd like to add?"

"I do," O-Ren said at once, throwing her hand up. "Was it really necessary to bring Jeff along for the ride?"

She was pointing to the very back of the tank as she said this, where Jeff's body was still lying unconscious on the floor. It had been Nicole's idea to bring him along once everybody had gotten over their vomiting. I had thought at the time that cutting his two fingers off would be for nothing if everyone else got so freaked out, but he surprisingly complied. I guess Jeff was better at being a giver than a receiver.

"He knows more about that robot than any of us," Nicole answered. "There might be a way to shut it down without damaging it too badly."

She was still fixated on that thing. "You heard what she said," I said, resignedly. "Anyone else?"

"Me," said Miguel, who immediately turned to O-Ren. "Why didn't you tell us that gun of yours could fire energy ropes out like that? We could have used something like that ages ago!"

O-Ren blushed. "I didn't," she muttered quietly. "The gun went off by accident when my fingers hit a setting I'd never used before. I was as shocked as everybody else."

"Right. Well, if question and answer time is over, we need to skedaddle! Gabe, let's you and me get this bitch on the road."

Gabriel, being the limber little shit that he was, beat me out the top hole first. I came right after him, with Scooby clawing at my heels trying to follow. Gabriel reached in to help him out, and I heard several pops and cracks that finally got my stomach to twist. I really doubted that I'd ever get used to that! Once Scooby had been put back together again more or less and could walk, we leaped down off the tank and headed for the abandoned building in front of us. Kamegami roared to life behind us once we were a few feet away and took off down the road. I had forgotten how much noise those things made when we were outside them.

Up ahead of us was the old mall. Before the new one was built next to Bonita Lakes park, it had been the epicenter of town for a time. I was way too young to remember coming here, so it just looked like a rotted out building to me. I remembered my dad talking about how businesses kept saying they were going to tear it down and put something new there. Everytime somebody said words along those lines, a bad thing would happen.

I was suddenly getting the feeling that we shouldn't have done this without the tank.

`"We should've brought the tank," Gabriel said, echoing my own thoughts.

"Agreed, but it's too late now. You ready?"

"As I'll ever be!" he nodded, holding the Word of Mordo up. "What do you think we'll find in there?"

"With any luck," I said, taking point. "Nothing. Hopefully, this will just be your basic, abandoned shopping mall full of homeless people and drug dealing degenerates. Nothing more!"

I could feel Gabriel's eyes on me, even though I wasn't looking at him. They were about a subtle as hot coals at that moment. "Do you really believe that?" he pressed, walking up beside me.

I felt my stomach turn as we reached the door, and it had nothing to do with dead dogs or torturing futuristic child molestors. "Ask me again when we get out of here!"

"Right."

I hadn't come up with a brilliant way to break in, but Gabe was already one step ahead of me. Raising both hands, he let the Word of Mordo balance itself in mid-air as he chanted from an open page in front of him. I was expecting the door to explode inward, or some sort of mystic portal to appear that would shift us somewhere inside. All Gabriel did was open the darn lock and let the entrance swing open a little.

"Show off!" I grumbled, stepping inside first.

The inside was nothing to talk about. In fact, it was downright spooky! Whoever was here before had left the place in a wreck. I hadn't seen damage this bad since that party Morris Wrendell threw while his parents were out of town. At the very least, the cops wouldn't be showing up this time around!

Manniqueins had been left standing around here and there like statues at a wax museum. Assuming wax museums did inacurate viewing of nudity, anyway. My mind was reeling at this point. There was something definitely wrong about this whole place, from top to bottom. I could feel it rattling in my bones. Suddenly, I got this nagging suspicion that perhaps Jeff had teleported that innocent girl to this particular building for a reason.

More to the point, he might have given up the location a little too quickly, knowing we would go!

"This is a trap," I said flatly, stopping dead in my tracks. "I think Jeff set us up."

"Scooby doesn't like this place, either," he replied, looking down at him. "There's something here that shouldn't be. Several somethings, in fact! I can feel it all over the place."

Gabriel was looking around, searching the rafters up above us. For what, I didn't know.

"We could just leave her here," he admitted, after a moment. "I mean, nobody said we HAD to rescue her."

Then, his eyes met mine. "But you don't want that, do you?"

I swallowed for some reason, then nodded. "No, I don't."

He shrugged. "Okay! Then let's keep moving. I don't know about you, but the less time I spend here, the better!"

The smell of the place was starting to bother me. It was worse than an old closet. "Any idea which way we should go?" I pressed, getting nervous again.

"There's a lot of residual magick hanging in the air that shouldn't be," Gabriel said, scanning his book. "Scooby's having a hard time getting a clear scent in this place because of it. I think maybe the Pride used this place in the past as a testing ground, or something."

"That makes sense. What can we do about it, though?"

"Your jetboard," he said, looking up. "We could use it to get a clearer layout of the place. Plus, I want to take a closer look up at the ceiling. Something's been moving around up there."

I really hated the idea. "And why do we want to go up there?" I said, standing on it.

"I'm curious," he replied, getting behind me. "Besides, Scooby can keep patrolling here on the ground. If he finds anything, I'll know about it immedately."

I hated the idea even more now, but was about to kickstart the board anyway, when Gabriel stopped me. "By the way," he added. "Can this thing support both our weights?"

My eyes must've carried a lot of heat to them, because he actually looked surprised. "We're about to find out!"

The engines of the jetboard roared to life. Inside the building, they sounded about a million times louder than normal, which meant my teeth were rattling inside my mouth as we took to the air. I still wasn't too good at piloting this thing, and having an extra passenger just made it worse. I thought, as we twisted through the air near-helplessly, that it would've been much worse if he'd brought that stupid mutt with him. This was a little comfort, but not much, as I struggled to right us both so we wouldn't fall off onto what looked like several leftover boxes of ladies' underwear.

Sure enough, Gabriel was right. There had been something lurking up in the rafters of the mall after all, and the moment we got close enough, they moved in. I didn't know what they were, but these things looked like something that'd stepped out of a Wes Craven movie! The noise of the jetboard was apparently bothering them, however, because none of them were getting too close to it.

"They're animated gargoyles," Gabriel explained, holding his hand up high. "Keep the jetboard steady for a second. I'm gonna take care of these things with one shot!"

"How?" I wondered, bringing my bo staff out. "What are you going to..."

I couldn't hear what Gabriel was muttering over the noise that these things were making, plus the whine of the board's engines. Whatever it was, though, his hand started to glow a second later. There was this brilliant flash of green light that came out of it, and all the flying gargoyles just froze in mid-air. A second later, the same green glow spread out from them like they were cracking apart from the inside.

Then, they just exploded.

"Nice shot!" I called out.

"We're not out of the woods yet!" Gabriel cried. "Look up ahead."

Guns were dropping down from the ceiling. I mean, high-tech laser rifle guns like from the Terminator movies! They were decending from the rooftops ahead of us as we flew right in the line of their laser sights. Several red dots appeared all over my body just as the tips of the barrels began to glow.

Gabriel leaned forward. "We might be in trouble."

"Oh, yeah!"

The weight of his body caught me off-guard. The jetboard did this sort of plunge for a second, then flipped right back around. All of this happened just as the guns fired right at where we'd been flying. A few stray shots came at my torso, but instead ricocheted off my bo staff. I caught a few more of them as they came our way without thinking. Something just took over me for a second, and I was flicking hot plasma away like it was spitballs.

"Fly in close!" Gabriel shouted above the din.

"Roger." I had a pretty good idea as to what he wanted me to do. The moment the guns took aim again, I plowed forward at high speed and ducked in right between them. The guns fired just as we zoomed past, and blasted one another to smithereens.

I grinned, looking back at Gabe. "You only knew that because of the episode of Dirty Pair we watched together!"

"Actually, I was just going to throw up a shield around us," he said, sheepishly. "Good thinking, though."

"Hold on!" I had to swerve sharply to avoid another shot. There were more guns up ahead of us, but Gabriel had his spellbook up and was ready to go. A few mumbled words I couldn't make out sent fire out of his hands. He was really starting to get good at that! The guns melted before we got close to them, making it smooth sailing for our asses!

Which, of course, was the signal for this madhouse to throw something unexpected our way. Honestly, I really should have learned not to say things like that by now! Chains came sailing up from the ground. I mean, like something out of an old martial arts movie. They had hooks on them, which dug into my back a little as we were dragged off the jetboard to the ground. Gabriel's book fell from his hands, which meant he wasn't going to be much help.

And me?

I was tangled up in a mass of chain and rope, which probably looked real undignified. My ninja skills couldn't make up their mind! One minute, I could bat energy bolts away with a staff like I was born into it. The next, I couldn't untangle myself off the floor!

"We've got to get out of here!" I gasped. The ropes were somehow getting tighter. "Any ideas, Gabe?"

"Maybe we need the safe word?" Gabriel was reaching for his book, which naturally was several feet from either of us.

"Safe word?" The hook dug in a little more. "What?"

"Nothing. Forget I said anything. Can you pass me your bo staff?"

I saw it had fallen just a few inches from my feet. My hands were held down, but I managed to roll it his way with my left foot. Gabriel yanked one arm free somehow just in time to snag it as it rolled by. I watched as he held it up and extended the bo to it's full length. The sight was more than a little Freudian, which I attributed to the lack of oxygen at the moment. Gabriel raised up some, then began swatting at the Word of Mordo, pushing it back towards him. I heard something behind us over the noise, and gulped. Something in my gut told me I didn't want to look around.

And I did.

Boy, was I scared shitless!

Had there been a rational part of my brain left, I might have screamed something about copyright infringement. There were zombie dogs gathering around us from the shadows. The good news was that none of them came close to being as big as Scooby. The bad news was, they were still zombie dogs! All of them had taken an unhealthy interest in us. I opened my mouth to try and warn Gabe, but nothing came out but a few pathetic squeaks. He must have heard me anyway, which I knew was going to do nothing for my self esteem if we survived this, because he whirled around a second later.

"Dan, duck!"

I couldn't see what he was talking about, but crouched low regardless. Something huge came sailing over my head. It actually freaked me out more than the thought of being torn apart by undead rejects of the Pound Puppies! All I could think about was what else our parents had created to murder us with? As it turned out, I should've been cheering for joy.

It was Scooby, and he was having the time of his life ripping the little mongrels to bits. I guess the rotting mastiff must have taken our parents' plagarism badly, since before a minute had passed, he had made quick work of them. They were still alive, or unalive, as the case may have been. A few of the dogs were still trying to crawl away as he picked what was left of them up and tossed them aside. Scooby looked as if he were searching for something. It dawned on me right after that, as he yanked out what might have been the largest dog's stomach, which held a glowing emerald of some kind inside it.

"You knew that was controlling them?" I asked Gabe as he helped untangle me.

"The dogs had to be manipulated by a power source close by," he replied, yanking the hook out. "Knowing my stepdad, he would have hidden it somewhere gross and convenient in case the dogs needed to be summoned from this place."

"So, why does Scooby not have one of those?" I asked, as his heel smashed it to dust. The emerald gave a feeble cough before fading to nothing.

"Scooby was resurrected through different means," Gabriel explained, giving the dog a pat. "My life force keeps him sustained. And if he wanders away too far from me, there's a good chance he'll start to fall apart for real."

"You've had your nose in that book way too much lately," I said, warily. "Are you sure it's not going to make you... I don't know, turn over to the dark side, or grow flowers out of embarassing places."

Gabriel held the book up in front of him. "I don't know," he admitted. "But, can we really afford to get rid of it now?"

Sheesh, I hated questions like that! "Let's keep going," I said, resignedly. "We might wanna keep close to the ground for a while, though. There are too many things in the air we're vurnerable to." Not that walking was such a good idea, but Gabriel and I could fight better on the ground. Plus, we had Scooby for backup. Gabe seemed to be thinking ahead of me, and nodded at once.

I could give you a long, drawn-out, and fairly disgusting description of everything we went through after that point. Sufficed to say, there were plenty of trap doors and flying knives that'd been rigged up by the hand. I will never feel safe in a Victoria's Secret shop again! Not that I frequently visited one, of course...

Then, there were those stands that'd been abandoned and left in the main part of the mall. Seems either Jeff or O-Ren's parents had whipped up a bunch of different booby traps loaded to the brink with motion sensors. None of us could make a move without getting gunned down with glow-in-the-dark goop, sprayed with ice, or have about fifty arrows flung in our direction at once. After this, my mall rat days were going to be over for good. I would never be able to set foot in one without screaming, or desperately wanting a pizza.

Even the old food court was against us! Killer robots were on the menu, and a lot of them looked like they had walked right off the set of an old sci-fi movie. Something told me this was where Miguel's folks had kept all of their reject mercandise no one wanted to buy. Luckily for us, a lot of them were already looking pretty beat up before I had a chance to start in on them. It was past time I broke out the Shien Tekkon and let loose. This makes me sound a lot cooler than I actually was, just so you know. The Shien Tekkon were still behaving a little erractically. They would work one second, then cut out on me in the next. I kept having to stop long enough to beat them against a table, which was probably blatant disrespect for ancient ninja gear, but it always used to work on that old tv set we had! Gabriel had my back the whole time, and provided me with lots of cover fire until I could get them online again.

Scooby took care of the last two that wouldn't stay down. Ninja magick would up taking a back seat to a loyal dog's good old fashioned chompers. I would have been a little humbled by it, but he had kept my ass out of trouble so far. I wound up giving him a scratch behind the ears as a thank you that ended the moment his ear promptly fell off. Gabe refastened it while I looked around for some napkins to wipe my hands off with. I was never going to get used to that!

"Scooby thinks the girl is somewhere close by," Gabe said, petting him on the head again.

"Glad to know we haven't been wandering around risking our lives for nothing," I answered, grumpily. There were, of course, absolutely no napkins in the food court. Some things never would change! "Any idea which direction we go from here?"

Scooby turned, as if he'd understood me, and pointed his nose in the direction of an old Sear's. "I think we're supposed to go that way," Gabriel said. "Come on. At least it's not the video arcade."

"I wouldn't have gone near it anyway," I told him. "They don't have Dance Dance Revolution, remember?"

"Oh, right. That was why we stopped coming here, wasn't it?"

Questions started popping into my head then, the closer we got. I began to wonder about myself as we passed through the iron gates that had once closed off this part of the mall, before something had torn them loose. That did nothing to stop the flow of doubt towards my own sanity. In the past four hours or so, I had tortured a man for information without feeling remorse for it. Whether he deserved it or not, it still felt wrong now despite the lack of guilt on my part. I had gone off on what was shaping up to be a nice little suicide mission with my best friend just to rescue some complete strange none of us knew. Furthermore, a part of me was beginning to wonder if I hadn't engineered this whole fiasco in the hopes that something permanent would happen to Gabriel's face, if not the whole package.

Yeah, I was still pissed about the whole him being with Nicole situation. No amount of psychotic breakdown or near-death experience with a giant robot will aleviate that this quickly. It was still hurting me, much as I'd tried not to let it. Something inside of me burned each time the memory of them together, of the graphic sounds they'd made each night and several times throughout the day. I'd made myself not wonder whether Gabriel was a better fuck than me, if that hadn't been the reason why she'd picked him instead. Yeah, it sounded pretty stupid, but I was starting to wonder if girls couldn't sense that sort of thing.

O-Ren would've told me yes, just so it would get under my skin some more. Sometimes, I really hated that girl!

I thought we'd spend the next hour or so looking for our target. For some reason, I was calling her 'target' since I didn't know her name yet. My gut kept telling me I would get over that once we found her, despite the growing doubts towards my sanity. As it happened, Jeff had teleported her right in the middle of the store. What more, he'd made it even easier for us to locate by putting up some kind of funky blue force field around her that glowed brightly in the dark. I had to remind myself that the force field was still an obstacle, that we still needed to get past it before this mission was over and done with, but a part of me was too overjoyed at the idea that we wouldn't be spending much longer in this deathtrap.

I look several calming breaths while Gabriel set about examining it. The girl inside was unconscious, but I thought I saw the rise and fall of her chest through the bright glow. Looking straight at the thing made colored spots pop out in front of me. I had to blink a few times to make them go away, and by then, Gabriel was done checking it out.

"So, what's the story?" I pressed. "How does it work?"

"Honestly," he sighed. "I have no clue. This thing has nothing to do with magick whatsoever. It looks like Jeff completely designed it on his own. If O-Ren or Nicole were here, one of them could probably figure it out. I don't even know where to begin!"

Yes, I bristled a little at him saying her name. "And I guess blowing it up straight out is not an option, since that would just kill the whole reason we came here." My head wasn't on straight. I stood there for a moment, thinking hard. There had to be a solutiont to this.

I had a radical thought, and let it gestate in my brain for a minute while I took a walk around the force field block. This thing had been built by Jeff; it was owned by him, if not outright built. The location seemed random at first, but the more I thought about it, it looked to me like she'd been sent here on purpose. If the Pride were using this place as storage to dump all their failed experiments, then Jeff had a specific reason for putting her here. I was starting to wonder if this girl was just another random victim after all! It really didn't matter in the long run, so I pushed it aside and kept working on the problem of getting her out of there.

Jeff was an asshole. He was also vain and presumptious; his idea of fun was not exactly a match for wikipedia! He might have given us the information because he didn't think we'd be able to figure anything out. He might have been hoping all the stuff in-between would off us first. But assuming we did make it here, which we had, the way to shut this thing off would be right in front of us. He loved being clever, and would've stuck the off switch right in front of us!

And just as that occured to me, I noticed something on the floor. As many times as I'd paced around this thing, how could I have missed the panel directly in front of the force field that was shaded a completely different color. It stood out so well now that I was looking down at it. I glanced over towards Gabriel and grinned.

Unfortunately, I had neglected to calculate Jeff's tendancy to booby trap things! Nothing happened for about two seconds after my foot landed hard on the square. It didn't even sink in a little like on all those Indiana Jones movies, but I felt something beneath my shoe click and start buzzing. Like I said, a total of two seconds to worry whether I'd done the right thing. I could do a lot of worrying in a very short period of time, but this time, I really had thought I was right.

And then, the ground exploded out from under us. Gabriel and I both went falling down about ten feet or so alongside the glowing force field box with the girl still snoozing inside of it. I was starting to feel envious of her, because a second after that, the roof came crashing down on top of us. Gabriel reached for his book, which did something kinda strange; it sent out all these wailing ghosts at the debris coming for us. I might have wondered what ghosts stood a chance against solid mass, but it all started slowing down a bit. Then it was like this huge web formed over us, catching the falling roof before it could bury us in. I was seriously going to have to reevaluate my standards on the usefulness of the dead.

None of that changed the fact that we were buried alive, and that none of the others would know about it until it was too late, most likely. The girl, whoever she'd been, was somewhere outside the dome Gabriel had secured for us. She had the blue box to keep her from being crushed, but we'd gone from being the rescuers to needing rescuing ourselves. If this was the life of a superhero, then I was seriously lost on what the appeal was for Miguel.

"Dude," I wheezed, moving over closer to him. "This mall sucks!"


	14. War Machine: Undivided

Runaways:

War Machine

Chapter 4

Undivided

by Ri-kun

I used to think claustraphobia was something silly, like being afraid of ladybugs or that big, long, impossible-to-spell word that means being afraid of Friday the 13th. I had an aunt on my dad's side of the family who refused to be in a room with the door closed. She never visited much, but I could never understand what the problem was. I had been closing the door to my bedroom since before my balls dropped. It was the only real way to get free of my older brother and spend time alone with my private thoughts. And please don't make jokes; I wasn't talking about those kinds of thoughts.

For one thing, I did that sort of stuff in the bathroom. Easier to get rid of the evidence, and no one dared barge in on me!

Being buried alive under tons of concrete and shingles with only a magickal web to keep me alive made that fear seem a lot less idiotic. Gabriel was looking a little pale at the moment. I think that spell took more out of him than he wanted to admit. Casting these humongous encantations from that book was starting to show in his eyes. He looked more and more sickly recently. Granted, Gabriel had always been small and kind of spry, but I was worried about him. Even if he had stolen my girl, that didn't mean I wanted him to die. Especially not from something inside that book backfiring!

He insisted it was just the shock of the fall, and refused to say more. Scooby had gone over to him the moment the sky quit falling and sniffed him over. The undead mastiff sat down next to him with his tail thumping against the ground, which I took to mean he had given Gabriel a clean bill of health. I was still worried, but if anyone would know, it should have been that sack of bones. So, my mind wandered back over to the fact that we were trapped and buried alive. Everything had gone quiet around us. I could hear water dripping down from someplace close by, but other than that, the air felt dead. It was a far cry from a few minutes ago, when the ground had literally blown out from under us.

I found myself wanting to say something. We had been through so much together, and the last month or two was really only part of the story. Gabriel had stuck by me for a few years now, and I'd only just realized recently how good a friend he'd been. His parents had always been ferociously protective of him. Finding out they were evil just made sense in my opinion. We hardly got to do anything together without someone watching us, but he was an incredible listener. I had always come to him whenever life had thrown me a screwball. Me being the town's rich kid held a sort of stigma. No one expected my life to be anything but a bed of roses, which incidentally I never understood, considering the very nature of a rose bed! Gabriel had always been very patient and sympathetic when I needed a nonjudgemental moral compass.

I hoped now he had found a friend in me, as well. I hadn't done a very good job of it since this whole mess started. Thinking about that made me wonder if I'd ever been a good friend to him at all. The doubt was nagging at me something fierce. We had all lost our homes, our lives, and any shred of normalacy. There was no one we could run to for help. I'd never imagined I would miss school as much as I did. I missed the day-to-day boring parts most. All the things that people take for granted just because they're there every single day of the week; those were what I wanted back most of all.

I realized now that we could have made it together. If I'd been a little more understanding, maybe, this wouldn't have been so hard. Since this nightmare with discovering the Pride, he and I had slowly drifted farther and farther apart. Now, I wanted my buddy back.

"Gabriel?"

"Yeah?" he asked, raising up slightly. Scooby looked over towards me at the same time. I tried not to think about how creepy that was, and focus on what I wanted to say. This is always easier for guys to do in those sappy chick flick movies!

"Are we still buds?"

He blinked, and looked at me. "What?"

"Are we still buds? For real, man. What happened to us?"

Gabriel gathered up his book, and crawled slowly over to me. Scooby had to help him move part of the way. I think he'd injured himself real bad in the fall, and had been keeping it quiet from me. A lump formed in my throat.

"You're hurt," I stated, looking him over.

He sighed a little as he settled down next to me. "A little. Most of it feels like some real bad bruises. I'm casting a healing spell right now to take care of it. That's why I was being so quiet before. Being a ninja must run in the family, huh? You're barely scratched up at all!"

"I'm sorry."

"For what? Having killer reflexes?"

"For all that's been going on. I shouldn't have let the fact that you were with Nicole get to me the way it did."

Something passed over his eyes, then. "Dan..."

"I'm serious," I cut in. "I kept telling myself this whole time that it was my own damn fault for not making a move first, but some part of me still wanted to blame you. I've just been so angry since we found out are parents were supervillains. Throwing everything your way made it feel a little better."

"Dan..."

"What?" I realized that I'd snapped at him unintentionally. "What?" I tried again, more softly.

Gabe looked at his feet. "There's something I never told you. I've been keeping something a secret from all of you for a while now. Please don't be mad at me, though. I really don't think I could take it at this point."

I looked him in the eye as best I could. "What have you been hiding?"

"Nicole has been... blackmailing me. She told me that if I didn't sleep with her, that if I didn't help her with the Abstract scroll, she would tell everyone about me. I don't know how she figured it out, but she did. She needed my help decoding the scroll, and..."

"She... blackmailed you?!" I was having a hard time wrapping my head around that one. "Wait, Nicole found out something about you, and that's why the two of you are together?"

"She said... she needed me to sleep with her so you would back off."

That did nothing to help my ego. "Oh."

"I think there was more to it than that, though," he added quickly. "I think Nicole has been planning something for a long time. It all has to do with that scroll, and a place she calls the External Temple. She's changed a lot since this whole thing began, Dan. I don't think Nicole is the same person we knew."

What Miguel had said earlier tonight came back to me. "She has been acting pretty obsessed recently, I'll admit. But why would she want to keep me away from her. I mean, seriously! I'm not that bad with rejection. She could have just told me to fuck off."

"It's not that. The scroll came from your parents' house, in their basement, right? Maybe she was afraid you'd be able to translate it on your own. She's looking for something inside that thing, Dan. I was only able to use the tarot deck while she wore the Seer's Ring, so she could understand it better. She never let me get too close."

I was starting to get worried, because this was beginning to make a creepy kind of sense. "I have to ask. What did she have on you that was so bad?"

Gabriel looked back down at his feet. They were starting to facinate him. "I'm bisexual."

I had been expecting a lot of things. No, actually, I hadn't known what to expect by that point. Nicole having some secret agenda that included all of us was hard enough to take in. Whatever I'd been waiting to hear him say, it sure as hell wasn't that.

"You like guys?"

"I like girls," he corrected. "I mean, I really liked a lot of the stuff Nicole and I did together."

So did not want to hear that! "I had been with a couple of girls before," he went on. "Did I ever tell you that?"

"No... you didn't!"

"My first one was at a family reunion. She wasn't related to me or anything. Her folks were vacationing in the same spot. I don't know, she just dragged me off one evening to this spot behind some bushes. It was okay, but I was pretty shaken up by the whole thing. This was back when I was still getting the hellfire and brimestone treatment at home. But, I think I like guys, too."

"Okay."

"You don't mind it? I mean, you're not weirded out by it?"

I was seriously weirded out by it. I was trapped in a collapsed department store with my best friend, who'd just come halfway out of the closet right in front of me! "No, I'm okay with it. I was expecting something worse, to be honest with you."

"Like what?" he grinned. "I want to know."

"Oh, I don't know. An axe murderer, maybe? Or that you still listened to New Kids on the Block!"

"You're one to talk!" he jeered back. "I know you bought the collector's album the moment it hit the shelves."

"I did not!" I practically screamed, turning red.

"You're a terrible liar," he countered, chuckling. "But thanks, anyway."

Then he kissed me. It was just on the cheek, but I hadn't seen him coming. The movement startled me, and I could feel a shiver going down my spine. A part of me was really uncomfortable with him being so close. But another part hadn't complained too much yet. That was really bothering me!

"To answer your question," he said quietly. "We're still buds. At least, I hope so..."

I leaned forward. I don't know what made me do it. Something about it just felt right. I would go on for hours later telling myself that it meant nothing, that I was just trying to let him know how much he still meant to me, and how bad I felt that it took something like a roof falling on our heads for him to come to me with all this.

It was at that moment that the rubble next to us exploded inward with all the force of my brother's digestive track after a full-course mexican dinner. I made a note to thank whoever had come to kill us before we died, as Gabriel and I scrambled to get out of the way. The blast had sent Scooby back a few paces, but he was on his feet in seconds with teeth bared, ready to take on whatever came through that smoldering hole.

_"Life signs located," _said a metallic voice through the smoke filling up the small space. _"Commencing bio-scans."_

Gabriel had his hands out, and they were glowing. My bo was extended to full length, with Scooby in front of us. Slowly, the smoke cleared away enough for us to see who it was. I had to blink a few times for the sight to register. The girl we had come here to rescue, at least I think that's who it was, was standing in the arch made by the blast. The thing there was wearing her clothes, anyway. Her skin had gone to a greyish pale color with strange tattoos all over that reminded me of a circuit board. They were glowing a little, right alongside her eyes. There was a triangle on her forehead, and it shot out their weird beam that passed over both of us.

"_Targets confirmed negative on both DNA target match-ups, as well as signal scan for mutant X-gene. Visual target number two shows recent contact with designated target, implying that designated target is nearby. Beginning aerospace scan of the entire area, now."_

She was looking at me as she said the last part. "Hey, why am I number two?" I demanded.

_"Designated target not in immediate area. Beginning widespace scan!"_

"Okay," Gabriel said, lowering his hands a little. "This is weird."

"Very," I agreed, nodding. She was just standing there the whole time we were talking, ignoring us with her head thrown back. "Even for us! Is... that the girl we came here to rescue?"

"I think so. What do you suppose happened to her?"

I know you're not supposed to judge a book by it's cover and all that, but believe me when I say that in this case, it was a valid question. I was starting to wonder whether Jeff's little teleportation trick had been a coincidence or not. "Dan," Gabriel said, raising his hands up again. "This may have been a trap."

"I agree. Maybe we should be just a little bit worried abou this?"

The girl lowered her head back down to stare right at us. Gabriel and I were at once on our guard, but she ignored us. I should have been used to that by now. _"Long-range scan confirmed designated target's location. Begin Protocol Nine!"_

Protocol Nine sounded like something bad and painful. I was remembering the killer robots from the food court, when she abruptly turned around and began walking in the opposite direction. Gabriel and I looked after her.

"That wasn't what I thought would happen," I mused. "Do you think we should follow her?"

"I think she knows the way out," he pointed out. "That's good enough for me!"

"Me too. Let's go!"

I was running like a madman through the open space left in her wake. I was running towards what appeared to be a killer robot once again, instead of far away from it. This was becoming a bad habit for me. Were I to ask Miguel, he could probably tell me about a ten-step program for superheroes that was accepting walk-ins! Thinking about him made me almost stop and scratch my head for a second. I suddenly felt like we were forgetting something real important.

"Which way did she go?" I asked, snapping back to the present.

"Up," he pointed. "Got your jetboard?"

I nodded, whipping it out. "Climb on!" The board whined a little as we rose up through the air after her. I still didn't know her name, or even if she really had one at this point. Do girls who spontaneously polymorph into androids carry cell phones?

She was standing at one of the walls, looking it over, when we flew slowly out from the pit. I had just enough time to wonder what she could be doing there, when there was this jaw-rattling explosion that shook dust and plaster down from what little remained of the roof onto our heads. When my eyes stopped burning from all the crud that'd gotten into them, I looked up and nearly fell backwards off my board on top of Gabriel. There was this enormous hole left where she'd been standing a second ago. Our mysterious andriod girl had just blown a gaping crater into the wall big enough for Kamegami to drive through and parallel park!

Thinking about Kamegami finally made what'd been nagging me since down in the pit click into place. "The others!" I gasped, landing the board. "I completely forgot! They're still chasing after the Sentinel!"

"And from the sound of things," added Gabe. "It's not going very well."

Explosions roared off in the distance. The fire raid siren was bellowing through town as the cries of people screaming in panic and agony echoed somehow even louder through my ears. It sounded like a war had broken out in the time we were gone. I think that was exactly what we'd unleashed. That monster was destroying our town, and we were the ones that'd unlocked it's cage.

"What have we done?" I whispered.

"Orders, sir?"

Gabriel's voice didn't register at first with me. He had to say it again before I looked around at him, blankly. "What are your orders, sir?" he repeated. "Nicole isn't here. I'm designating you fit to command. What's our next move?"

That snapped me out of it. Don't ask why! "We locate the others," I told him, setting the jetboard on the ground. "They were going after the Sentinel, so it shouldn't be too hard to find them. After that, you and I are going to convince them to help us stop that thing, no matter what it takes. And after that..."

I took a deep breath as Gabe stood on the board behind me. "After that, you and I are going to sit down and have a serious talk with Nicole."

"Yes, sir," he shouted over the roar of the board.

Scooby followed along after us on the ground. He would be a little late getting there, but that had proven by now to come in handy, so I wasn't worried. As we flew off together, I looked back at the nearly demolished building . I'd been attacked by horrors of all shapes and sizes inside that place, buried alive inside a pit, had a cute girl turn into a robot in front of me, and almost kissed a guy.

Yeah, I was more than glad to be leaving that place behind!

*****

The battle wasn't going very well. I hadn't been expecting it to, but the surprising part was that the others were already engaging the Sentinel robot when we flew in. Somehow, I hadn't been expecting that. It looked like I wasn't going to get to use the inspiring speech that'd been rooting around in my head on the flight over. Opting to save it just in case we needed a 'don't give up now' pep talk, I touched down roughly and put the board away while Gabriel regained his footing. The battle ground had been formed in the middle of the Wal-Mart parking lot, if you could believe that. Cars were scattered everywhere in all directions. Most of them had been turned upside down or on their sides. More than a few were on fire, and even a couple had been buried into the concrete nose-first.

Luckily, the fun wasn't over yet. Cop cars blared off in the distance. I could hear ambulance sirens roaring off in the direction of the hospital. It looked like the police were keeping a safe distance, and making sure everyone else did the same. That wasn't to say the Sentinel had no one to play with, though! The Pride had apparently decided it was time to take this thing head-on. I could see what looked like an ensemble of fighters from all aspects of our parents' professions gathered together, wielding everything from laser blasters and plasmite grenades to ninja magic and throwing stars. It was almost inspiring.

The group saw us the moment we arrived, but it took them a second to show up. They had to dodge quite a bit of crossfire before reaching us; O-Ren brought up the rear with her blaster slung over her shoulder. It looked like she had set up a sniper position behind somebody's overturned SUV. They were all looking at us like we were there to save the day. I noticed then that Nicole wasn't with them, and frowned.

"Where's..." I started, but O-Ren beat me to it.

"Gone," she answered flatly. "Went back to the house for some mechanical do-hicky she kept saying would shut this thing off."

"She said something about it being installed in the back of the robot's head," Miguel added. One of his arms was much longer than the other. He still wasn't able to use Mr. Fantastic's powers well yet.

Explosions were going off all around us. It was getting to where I could barely hear them. "So what's the plan?" O-Ren demanded. "My gun's used up all it's power. I'll have to recharge it before it can fire anything out of it again. And Stretch-O here is still as limp as ever!"

"Look out!" I screamed, pointing behind them.

Gabriel started flipping through his book, but I knew he wouldn't be able to put up any kind of spell in time. Miguel just raised both hands in front of them, and the car that'd been hurling through the air towards us slammed into something solid and invisible. Once the car rolled off and came to a stop, he dropped the force field and grinned smugly.

"You were saying?" he asked O-Ren, wiggling one eyebrow.

"Time to fall back," I told them. "We've got some things to tell you both, but it'll have to wait. Follow my lead, and don't get lost in the smoke. We've got to get out of here before one of the Pride notices us and decides we'd make better targets!"

The war was waging all around us. It was hard to breath; the smoke got in my eyes and brought tears to them, but I kept right on going. Don't ask me how I knew when O-Ren tripped and fell down. I just stopped and pointed for Miguel to help her up. Once she was secure again, we kept on going.

The good part about all of this was that no one seemed to notice we were there. The Sentinel was doing a good job of holding their attention. The war machine looked a little worse for wear, granted. It had scorch marks and pieces of metal blown off of it, but hadn't fallen down yet. Were our own lives not at stake, along with the entire town's, I might have stopped and applauded it for giving our parents a run for their money. As it stood, we were going to take this thing on just yet. It looked like the Pride could keep it contained while we searched for Nicole and her mysterious-yet-convenient device that would shut that damn thing off!

We were taking cover behind a car that was turned over on it's side, when something grabbed me by the leg. I looked down, and wished immediately that I hadn't. Perhaps the one person in this entire fiasco that I wished hadn't survived was lying there. Jeff looked perhaps the worst of us all. He was bleeding profusely from several injuries all over his body, and one leg might have been broken. But he was alive.

Dammit!

"Help me!" he screamed hoarsely, squeezing my leg like a vice. "Please, help me!"

"No," I replied in a flat tone. "Let go of me right now, or I'll stomp your face in and beat whatever's left with my bo!"

"Help me, please!" he coughed. "Or we'll all die. Please, I can help you stop that thing!"

"I don't believe you," I responded, shaking him off. "You're a monster, Jeff. You'll say or do whatever it takes to make sure you survive. As long as you're the one standing on top of the pile, nothing else matters."

His eyes met mine. "The Pride won't be able to stop that thing. I redesigned it so that it would be immune to all their powers and technologies. They're just keeping it contained for now. Sooner or later, it will get free. I swear I will tell you how you can stop it, but you must take me away from here before they find me."

"Why would you be worried about our parents finding you?" Miguel asked.

I was wondering that myself. "They'll think I was the one who set that thing loose," he gasped. "They'll use any excuse to get rid of me. The Pride never saw me as much more than their errand boy. If the Externals hadn't chosen me along with them, I would have been gone years ago!"

I didn't want to do it, but found myself nodding. "We help you," I spoke in a clear voice so he would hear me. "And you tell us everything you know about the Pride. No tricks this time, or I'll turn you over to our parents personally in exchange for them letting us all go free. Got that?"

There was a semi truck behind him that hadn't been flipped over yet, strangely. I didn't notice Miguel behind me until he stretched his arm out and sucker punched Jeff with all his strength. Jeff went flying all the way back, then hung limply in the air as Miguel surrounded him with another force field bubble.

"Did you have to do that?"

Miguel shrugged at me. "He doesn't need to be conscious, right? All we agreed to do was get him out of here."

"Hmmm, good point. Let's go!"

"How?" O-Ren stopped us. "Nicole took the turtle tank, remember?"

"Shit! We can't get out of here without Kamegami."

Explosions rocked the ground. "What?!" O-Ren demanded.

"Kamegami," I repeated loudly, so she would hear me this time over the noise. "It's the name of our new ride. I picked it out myself. It means 'turtle god!'"

"Kamegami is right over there," Gabriel said, pointing to a thick grove of trees leading down a hill. "It's parked outside the Game Stop in the shopping center down below."

"Thanks for using the name," I said. "And, are you sure?"

"Positive."

"That's where we parked it," Miguel told us. "How could Nicole get back to the house if she didn't take the... what did you call it, again?"

"Kamegami," I repeated. "And we'll just add that to the growing list of questions I plan on asking her once we get out of here. How much longer can you keep that force field up?"

"Don't need to," he replied. Miguel let go, and Jeff immediately fell out of the sky into his waiting arms. Before he caught him, Miguel shifted his limbs and legs to that of the Thing. "Super strength," he reminded me. "Let's boogie!"

Just like Gabriel said, the tank was parked right in front of Game Stop. To my relief, the game store had survived the barrage with little to know damage visible. I crawled up first with Gabe coming right after me and threw the top open.

"This doesn't feel right," O-Ren said in a worried voice as she climbed up. "Nicole wouldn't have tried going on foot. Something must have happened to her! Gabe, can you use that dead dog of yours to pick up her scent? Where is he, anyway?"

"I sent a message for him to meet us at the house," he answered, holding the hatch open for her. "We can use him to track her down if she's not at the house."

"When we do find her," I said, sliding into the driver's seat. "I've got a few questions to ask her."

"Like what?" Miguel asked. "Hey, who said you could ride shotgun?"

"First come, first serve!" O-Ren countered, before turning to me. "Like what?"

"Dan..." Gabriel warned.

"Nicole's been blackmailing Gabriel," I said at once, ignoring him. "She used him to help her translate that scroll."

"What?!" both Miguel and O-Ren said at the same time. "How!?"

"It doesn't matter," I told them. "For now, let's get out of here! Is Jeff strapped in?"

"All secure," Gabe assured me, patting his unconscious form on the head.

"Then our asses are gone!"

I made liberal use of Kamegami's off-road capabilities and the fact that the Sentinel had torn up most of the town to get us home faster. The closer we got to the district where Jeff's house was located, the less damage there seemed to be. One really strange thing was how quiet the town seemed on this end. I was sticking to the roads now, but there wasn't any traffic. Meridian just wasn't the kind of town that you could drive a tank through without hitting every stoplight.

"Looks like somebody gave the order to have the whole city evacuated," I warned, keeping both eyes on the road. "Keep an eye out for any city officials. Even without the price on our heads or the big green tank, we'll still a bunch of runaway kids. If somebody sees us, there's going to be trouble."

"Bring it on," was all O-Ren said.

I rolled my eyes and pulled up along the side of the road where the house way. It was funny how we'd been staying here for as long as we had in a ritsy neighborhood, yet not one neighbor had complained, or reported anything suspicious to the police. Then again, that was suburbian for you!

"Let's make this quick," I told them, shutting everything down. "It looks like we'll have to abandon this place tonight, too. While we're inside, grab whatever it is you need and get out. Once we find Nicole, we'll deal with the..."

The whole tank shook. I was nearly rocked out of my seat by the explosion. The screen blinked to life on it's own, showing me what was going on right outside. I almost wished it hadn't, because the sight made my stomach turn inside out. Our home, the hideout we'd kept ourselves locked away in for over a month, was in flames. The explosion had taken it completely out, leaving only a towering inferno that blazed against the night sky. Everyone looked on in shock and horror, but I felt empty on the inside. O-Ren started crying, and for once didn't protest when Miguel tentatively put his arm around her.

I didn't see Gabriel move, but he was suddenly standing next to me looking on at the screen. We both watched as our home burned to the ground, along with perhaps one of our own. If Nicole had made it back, she was long dead by now.

Jeff stirred, rocked back to consciousness by the shaking of the tank, and looked around groggily at us all.

"What happened?" he mumbled, deliriously. "Are we there yet?"


	15. War Machine: Dirty Little Secret

Runaways:

War Machine

Chapter 5

Dirty Little Secret

by Ri-kun

What remained of the house was still smoldering as we sorted through the reckage of embers. I was doing my best to keep everything on the inside numb, feeling as little emotion as possible while we searched for a body. I refused to let my mind think any further than that; that we were looking for a body, any body, and not Nicole. My chest felt like it was going to burst open anytime my thoughts strayed too close to that. I wanted to fall over and scream, scream until my guts puked themselves out onto the ashes and wail up at the blackened sky about the unfairness of it all. We were just a bunch of stupid kids. None of this was our fault; we sure as hell hadn't asked for any of this.

Why the hell did she have to die?!

I couldn't look around to see how Gabriel was doing. I was too busy being wrapped up in my own little world of misery to care at the moment. He was my best friend; Nicole had chosen him over me, and I was blatantly turning out any hurt that might be coming from his end. It just confirmed the belief that I was a wretched excuse for a human being. Knowing all that didn't stop me from feeling sorry for myself and the situation I was in. If anything, it just added to it.

I could remember so much about her right now, with vivid clarity that's usually reserved for high-definition tvs! Nicole and the way she walked, her smile, her laugh, even the weird way she would drink soda. In-between all of this were the memories of what I overheard whenever she and Gabriel were screwing their brains out together. For some reason, the fact that I'd never laid a damn hand on her made all of this even worse. That should have been the final nail in my coffin, but being pissed that I never got a chance to screw my virginity away with her felt better than hurting on the inside.

No one was talking. Everyone else worked like we were at a funeral. Tonight might very well be just that, what with all the bombs and screaming going on in the distance. It sounded like the Sentinel robot was still giving the Pride a run for it's money. If something good came of this, it might be that our parents would be destroyed for us. Along with the entire city and who knew what else, but that was the silver lining, right?

Jeff stood off to the side by himself. He hadn't tried to run away so far, but none of us cared enough at the moment to keep a good eye on him. He could've dropped off the face of the earth for all I cared, but he was just standing there watching us. It made me sick how a useless, murdering pile of filth like him could still be breathing and the love of my life gone for good. Those seemed to be the breaks, though. No one cared if we were alive or dead! All that mattered was the Pride kept running things while hunting us down. If there was a God in heaven, I was past the point of believing he gave a shit about me.

"I found something," Gabriel called out a minute later.

Of course, he would have found something. His undead mutt, Scooby, had been sniffing around helping him look, so naturally he would be the one to find the first clue. What he held looked like some type of recorder device. I didn't recognize the model, but since this had been at one time the home of a time traveller, that proved to be a moot point.

"What's so special about that thing?" I asked. When everyone looked up at me, I realized what I just said must have sounded just as bad as it did to me, so I cleared my throat and apologized.

"Sorry, what have you got there?" I tried again.

"Some kind of recorder," Gabe told me, holding it out. "But the Seer Ring Nicole liked to use is duct taped to the top of it, see?"

I did see, and it made my throat tighten. "Do you know how it works?"

"Push the yellow button," Jeff called out from a distance. "That will play back any messages recorded on it in the last twelve hours."

I didn't thank him, though part of me wanted to. Taking it out of Gabriel's hands, I did as Jeff said and watched as the screen flickered to life. Everyone gathered around me to watch as Nicole's face came up on screen. She looked beautiful, even though at once I knew something was horribly wrong.

"Guys!" she gasped, as if in pain. "I'm so sorry about this. One of the Pride caught me in the parking lot as I was trying to leave. I tried fighting them off, but they hit me with some kind of spell. It must have done something to my brain, because everything after that is almost a blank. I remember some things, like him asking me questions about our home base. I tried not to, but something made me tell him!"

"Submission spell," Gabe whispered quietly.

"Everything is still a little fuzzy, but I've regained control of myself to act on my own again. They aren't watching me right now, but the Pride knows where we are. I've decided to take them out using a detonator device that was hidden in one of the walls. I found it weeks ago, and thought we could use it as part of a surgical strike. Forgive me, but if they use the data I've accumulated so far, all of you will be in danger! I've backed up everything I translated so far from the Abstract scroll onto this thing. Please use it, and stop our parents once and for all. I love you all..."

She paused then, a tear rolling down her face. "Thank you for being my friends. The best friends I've ever had!"

The screen went dark after that. I held the recorder in my hands for a moment as they began to shake uncontrollably. Everyone was looking straight at me; I could feel their eyes on me, but I didn't care. My ears still rang with the sound of Nicole's voice, with the pain I'd heard as she said her goodbyes.

"O-Ren," I whispered, not looking at her. "How much of a charge does your gun have left?"

She didn't answer me at first. "How much?" I asked again, quietly.

"Less than 2%," she said, uncertainly. "Basically, enough for one good shot. Nothing that powerful would make so much as a dent in the Sentinel robot, though."

"That's fine," I replied, holding my hand out. "Let me borrow it for a second, please?"

O-Ren silently turned her weapon over to me. I passed the recorder over to Gabriel, then flipped one of the orange switches all the way back. "Hold on to that thing for a minute, will you? I've got something to take care of right quick."

Jeff turned to look at me as I approached. "What happens to me now, soldier boy?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow at me. "You've tried your hand at torture. Care to give me the details on how you liked it?"

"Was it worth it?" I asked, ignoring him.

"Hmmm?"

"Was it worth it?" I repeated, fighting the urge to smash his face in. "Being the Pride's little bitch for so long. You're a wanted crimminal in almost every timeline in existence. Everywhere you go, someone is waiting there to take you out. Am I wrong?"

"How did you guess that?" he inquired.

"I've seen your basement, remember? Who knows what else you've accomplished, jumping from one plane of reality to the next. There must have been loads of people who hated your guts. Enough that they found some way of tracking you, even after you were long gone."

"You're driving at something," he stated flatly, looking at me closely. "I've known you for too long. You're way smarter than some people think, but you don't use it half the time. Since when have you enjoyed playing detective?"

"That girl," I began. "The one you had in your place when we showed up. She wasn't human at all, like we assumed. Someone had built her, and I think she was there with you for a reason. Did someone build her to look like a victim you might chose, hoping you'd pick her up? Is that why you went to all the trouble of being a member of the Pride?"

I could see Jeff's eyes in the dim light. He was doing a fairly good job of keeping his expression neutral, but I could tell he was afraid of me now. I'd guessed at something he hadn't expected. Kinda funny, when you think about it.

"You found her first, though, didn't you?" I went on. "You knew what she was, and was going to get rid of her before she could pose a threat. That's when we showed up! You couldn't risk a battle and have her wake up, or whatever it was she did, so you got her out of there. You put her in the most dangerous place you could think of, because if all the junk the Pride dumped in that old building didn't finish her off, you knew of a way to get in and do the job yourself later. After we had left!"

"I could kiss you," he taunted. "If you swung that way, at least."

"Get in line. Someone else has already tried tonight."

That got his attention. "So, what happens now? You cut off more fingers in exchange for information about how to stop the robot?"

"No," I said, leveling the gun at him. "I'm sick of your idiotic games, and I'm tired of running. So long Jeff! If it weren't for the fact I knew you to be a homicidal sicko, I'd say that it's been a pleasure knowing you."

The gun went off. I didn't remember pulling the trigger, so maybe it had some kind of sensor on it that picked up on what I wanted. I told myself that for a few minutes as Jeff's body slowly grew cold on the ground, a big smoking hole in his chest visible in the darkness. Everyone kept their distance as I watched what was left of him lying there, my face empty of anything human or kind. Satisfied he wasn't getting up, I turned back around and watched as each of them flinched slightly. When she was close enough, I tossed O-Ren her gun back and thought for a moment.

"It needs recharging," I said to her. "Is there enough time for you to do whatever you need to get it back online?"

"O-Ren!" Gabriel said, when she didn't answer.

"I need... an hour," she stammered. "An hour, for minimal power to return. Anything bigger than that takes a full day or so."

"What have you got in mind?" Miguel asked, watching me from several steps away.

I took the recorder back from Gabriel and pried the ring off. Slipping it onto my fingers, I waited as the chill that ran through me unexpected faded. "We're going to finish this," I told them. "We're gonna stop that fucking monster back there once and for all, then take the fight right to our parents' doorsteps. If that's a problem for any of you, I suggest you leave now and turn yourselves in. Anyone who's with me, get ready and be in Kamegami ten minutes from now. Got it?"

I waited in Kamegami for everyone. Somehow, I just knew they were all coming along in spite of the danger. Of course, the threat of death and dismemberment could hardly have been considered a reason not to go by this point. We'd all faced much worse together, and that was before I sort of assumed command. I think was surprised me the most as I sat there mostly just drumming my fingers was the fact that no one had protested. Not even O-Ren, who used to never fail to point how my incompetence before. I might have considered killing someone in cold blood right in front of her before now if I knew it would have this sort of effect.

Well, maybe not, but the thought made me laugh.

When they all filed in one after the other, I began passing out little ear pieces for them to wear. "What are these?" Miguel asked politely.

"Communication piece phones," I said, getting the tank going. "Just think of ourselves as going Bluetooth. It's about time we all had a way of keeping in touch with each other."

"How about the Pride overhearing us, though?" This was from O-Ren, though she used a much more respectful tone now. "Shouldn't we worry about that?"

"Why?" I asked, glancing back. "We're putting an end to this. The time for us to limp from one hiding spot to the other is over. We're either going to end this all now, or not ever."

"So, how do we stop the Sentinel robot?" Migel asked, after a moment's blessed silence.

"We hit it hard, and don't stop until it breaks into a million little pieces. Anybody see anything wrong with that?"

"We tried that before," O-Ren spoke up, sounding a little more like her old self. "I realize you weren't there, but none of us could put a scratch in it. Whatever they did to that thing made it indestructible!"

"This time's different," I assured her.

"How?"

"Because we're not going to let up. I mean it, if anybody doesn't want to do this, I can pull over right now and let you out. Nobody will think less of you, if that's what you're all worried about. I won't blame you for not coming with me. This is a fight I'll probably not live through to tell anyone about."

"Dan," Gabriel said in a quiet voice. "Nicole wouldn't..."

"Don't!" I yelled, hitting the dashboard with my fist. "Don't, Gabriel. Please!"

No one said a word to me. "Just... go. If that's what you're going to do, then tell me now before we get there."

O-Ren stood up first. "I'm sorry, Dan," she said, not looking at me. "I really am. I just can't..."

I pushed down on the brake controls and brought Kamegami to a slow halt. We were traveling through a rough patch of the city that the Sentinel had already been through. It looked like the robot had done a pretty good job of smashing everything up. Either that, or it has stopped to place DDR!

"Are you guys coming?" she asked, halfway up the ladder.

She seemed to be asking Miguel specifically, who looked back and forth between me and her for about thirty seconds. Finally, he stood up and hovered above his seat for a minute. I though he might sit back down, but then his body just sort of steadied himself.

"I really would have gone with you," he told me, sincerely. "I was all set to, no matter what happened to all of us. But, I just can't bring myself to leave her alone out there all by herself. You heard what she said; it'll be another forty-five minutes before her gun recharges. She's no good in a fight until then."

I was expecting O-Ren to drop her gun on his head for that remark, but she didn't. Miguel seemed to be waiting for the same thing, but when it didn't happen, he started making his way for the ladder after her.

"Go with them," I told Gabriel, once they'd climbed out the hatch. "They'll need you to look after them."

It was a lame excuse, and he knew it. Gabriel got up, but didn't head for the hatch. He climbed over the seats to stand behind me, putting his hands on my shoulders, giving me whatever comfort he had. I wanted to weep at the gesture. Violated the man-code once again, I know, but it had been a rough night for me.

"I'm not leaving."

"Just go," I pleaded. "I don't want someone else I care about dying on me. Once was bad enough!"

"She might still be alive," he offered. "There's always hope."

"Do you really believe that?" I turned around to face him when I asked that.

"I don't know," he finally admitted after a moment. "Scooby definitely picked up remains of her scent. She lived in that house for a month, though, so that doesn't necessarily mean the blast killed her."

"Just like in a comic book, huh?" I pushed a tear out of my eye, then straightened up. "Go, Gabriel. Look after the others, and keep yourself alive for me, okay?"

His face turned stony. "Are you sure?"

I looked at him. So many things had gone wrong so far, it only made sense for me to push that last barrier away. Since I would probably go to hell, I might as well go there with honors. Grasping him behind his neck, I pulled Gabriel in and kissed him fiercely on the lips. It was short, brief, but very intense. When I pulled away, his eyes were as big as saucers.

"Wow!" he breathed. "So, uh... does this mean you like guys, too?"

"I'm about to make a kamikaze charge towards a battle mech at least fifty times my height and who-knows-how many times my weight. Nothing after this is going to end well for me, so I might not be in my right state of mind at the moment. Try not to make too much of it. Just think of it as me saying a really weird goodbye."

"Maybe." Gabriel leaned forward a little as he whispered this. "But I've waited a long time for that to happen. So, humor me a little."

"Sorry, but that's all your getting. Now get out of here!"

I was smiling as I watched him go. It was a sad sort of feeling, one that I wasn't accustomed to, but it made what I was about to do seem a bit more right. I waited for the sound of the hatch closing, then listened as Gabe's footfalls scraped down the side of the tank. Once he was safely away, I cranked it up into high gear and sped off down through the destroyed landscape. Tears were in my eyes and rolling down my cheeks now, but I didn't bother stopping them. It felt good to cry my heart out now, to think about all the good times we'd had together, and all the craziness we'd survived. I guess that was the reason I was ready to die for these people.

I just wished that I'd told them the same thing Nicole had. That they were my best friends, too!

*****

The trip was not a smooth one. You know how in all those movies and animes, when the hero bids his comrades a fond fairwell to go into the last battle on his own, and the path is ready and clear for him? This was not the case for me. The shock absorbers on Kamegami got one hell of a workout the closer I drove back towards the battle. From the distance on the screen, and the way the sensors kept flipping in and out on me, I guessed that the battle had moved on away from the parking lot. The compass instruments told me it was due just a ways to the northwest from where it'd originally been. I would have probably found it even without all the fancy tech.

Another thing that doesn't often happen in these types of situations is hitchikers. I almost didn't notice her at first, so intent was I at making sure the coordinates were correct. She was just standing there in the middle of the road, blocking Kamegami's path like it was no big deal. I almost didn't slow down in time, but the thought of adding vehicular homicide to my growing list of sins helped shove the brake controls down. The camera zeroed in on her face as I brought the tank to a complete stop, and I heard myself gasp.

I knew her!

Perhaps it was because she had saved my life, but I was totally trusting as I climbed out the hatch to meet her. This proved to me an error in judgement, for once I was safely on the ground, she seized me by the collar and flung me against the side of my own tank. The whiplash alone was enough to disorient me, but then she had to take away all of my weapons. The Seer's Ring stayed on my finger at the very least, but only because I suspected her of not knowing what it was.

"What do you want?" I slurred, as things came back into focus. "Look, I was trying to save you before. What's the matter now?"

"Where is my target!?" she practically screamed. "Where is he? Tell me!"

Her voice was different from the last time I heard it, when Gabriel and I was trapped in the mall. It had sounded metallic, computerized back then. Now, she sounded like an ordinary girl, and scared out of her mind. She was, however, incredibly strong. I could feel the strength in her hands as she pressed me harder into the tank's side.

"I don't know..." I gasped. "What you're talking about!? What target? Do you mean Jeff?"

"Target..." she repeated. "Target... target... designate target!"

"You're not gonna go all Blue Screen of Death on me now, are you? Because I wouldn't even pretend to know where to plug in a keyboard so we could do a Control/Alt/Delete."

"Shut up!" she screamed. And yeah, I admit that I probably had that one coming. It was a harsh thing to say, though more than a little true. The girl just kept screaming that over and over again. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

"I have!" I finally screamed back, when she was squeezing me harder and harder. "You're the one who keeps yelling!"

"Not you," she moaned. "These voices in my head. They keep yelling at me to find somebody. I have to go kill someone, or they won't stop hurting me."

The light bulb finally clicked on in my head. "You were sent here to kill Jeff," I stated. "He's already dead, but you don't know that yet. And whatever you're... programmed with isn't going to stop making you hunt him until he's dead!"

This was seriously my fault, but the moment I said that Jeff was dead, she seemed to get a hold on herself a little. "He's... dead," she whispered. "You... know he's... dead?"

I nodded. "I'm the one who murdered the sonovabitch. Does this mean you have to kill me now?"

"I... don't know," she admitted, setting me down. "My head's still in bad shape. Are you sure you killed him?"

"The big hole in his chest would indicate yes." I gulped, remembering how the gun had seemed to go off on it's own.

"He's survived worse," she replied, holding her head in her hands. "I don't know how I know that, but I do. And he's done such horrible things, unspeakable things. I shouldn't know any of this, but I do! How do I know that?"

"I'm just guessing, but something may have gone wrong with your programming," I told her, gently. "Assuming you are a robot, after all. And speaking of robots, I had this great idea that it would be fun to go charging head-first into battle with one much scarier than you are at the moment. Could you maybe wait here until I..."

The earth-shattering explosion that rocked me off my feet saved me the trouble of finishing that sentence. I looked off into the distance just in time to see bits of robot parts go flying everywhere. One or two of them really made some range, too! It looked like the Pride had finally figured out a way to put that thing down for good. Instead of feeling glad about it, though, that just meant that the last half hour had been all for nothing. I'd said my goodbyes and made my peace with God or whatever for no reason whatsoever.

But the worst part was that I'd kissed Gabriel goodbye. Suddenly, I wanted some Scope real bad!

"This is probably a bad time," I said, wiping my mouth off. "But, do you have a name? Or at the very least, a serial number?"

"My name is..." She paused. "Rachel. My name is Rachel. What's yours?"

"Mine's Dan," I said, offering my hand. "Dan..."

And then the Dollar Tree to our left blew up. "Whittaker," I sighed, giving up on making any kind of flashy introduction. "Dan Whittaker, youngest son of evil ninja clan leaders operating out of Meridian, who maintain control of the Gulf Coast through a secret organization called the Pride. What's your story?"

Rachel was ignoring me in favor of the pretty fire burning the discount store to the ground. "There was somebody in there," she told me, growing alarmed. "I don't know how I know it, but..."

"Someone inside the store?"

"No, inside whatever hit the store! Come on!"

"Wait!" I called out, trying to stop her, but she was moving very fast.

Nothing had gone the way I thought it would tonight, but since an innocent bystander's life was potentially at stake, I decided I could at least help out. Besides, even if there wasn't anyone in that smoldering wreckage, this would at least be a good time to show off my ride in front of a cute chick! I crawled up into Kamegami and started the engines. As they roared to life, I steered the tank towards what was left of the Dollar Tree store, and gunned it.

Kamegami charged foward like the turtle-shaped tank it was. The girl named Rachel heard me coming and leaped impossibly high out of the way as I drove past, though I'd already made sure to steer clear of her. The tank burst through what remained of the wall like it was cardboard, then rolled over the crumbled shelves and merchandise to the back area. Once I had cleared a path, it was easy to see what had hit this place.

It didn't look like any obvious part of a robot, though that was hardly my area of expertise. Miguel or O-Ren could have probably told me more, but I was doing my best not to think about them right now. Since the battle never had the chance to really begin, it was starting to feel more like they'd deserted me. The thing looked like some weird sort of capsule. I hoped the owners of this place were insured against falling debris from supervillain battle! This wasn't New York, after all.

"What is that thing?" Rachel asked, as I climbed back out once more.

"A tank," I replied. "I call it Kamegami. The name means 'turtle god.'"

"You named a tank 'turtle god?'" she asked, blankly.

"Yes, yes I did. Now, any chance of you prying that door off?"

I was pointing to what looked like a hatch on the capsule's side. Rachel noticed where I was gesturing to, and walked over to it. "Careful," I warned her, instinctively. "That thing looks hot."

"I can deal with hot," she replied calmly, gripping the handle.

Rachel gave the hatch a hard yank, and I could hear metal tearing away from metal as steam filled the air around her. At the same time, something behind me gave an unnatural-sounding click.

"Freeze!"

I whirled around with my bo drawn, but one look told me it wasn't going to do a bit of good. About thirty or forty Pride soldiers composed of my parents' clan and sorcerers who served Gabriel's stepfather were standing there. I think one or two members of Miguel's family had joined in, too. We were effectively surrounded and outnumbered.

"Come away from the capsule," one of the aliens shouted. "Now, or we open fire."

Instead of listening, Rachel's hands started to burn through the veil of steam. The Skrull alien fired his blaster at her, but Rachel caught the beam just before it struck her across the face. Her hands glowed even brighter as she held onto it for a second, then lobbed it back through the air like a baseball. The Skrull looked shocked as his own attack hit him right smack in the chest.

"Now," Rachel said, stepping down. "Who wants to be next?"

"Nice trick," I complimented. "Care to lend me a hand?"

Rachel gave me a once-over. "Got anything with you besides that stick in your hands?"

I put the bo away and held my hands up, balling them into fists as fire spread across them. "Maybe."

"Neat trick," she almost repeated. "Sure, I'll play along."

"The girl is an unknown factor," one of the sorcerers called out. "We need to regroup!"

"Don't leave on my account," Rachel called out, cockily. "We're just starting to get to know one another."

"This isn't over," one said, brave enough to approach me. "You and your little band of rebel troublemakers will face the wrath of Dormamu, then all the rest of the Pride!"

"Rebel troublemakers?" I had a sudden thought. "Decon Mehan, is that you under all there?"

"Shit!" he cursed, backing up. Several of the ninjas with him began to snicker. I'd never heard ninjas laugh before. Somehow, it seemed like it should be against the ninja code, or something.

"Go on," I taunted them, boldly. "Get out of here, before we both kick all your asses!"

"You dare to challenge us, whelp?"

"Damn straight," I told the magic man. "I doubt any of you are up to a battle now. I've seen what that robot can do, and frankly, it's a miracle to see any of you standing here after going up against that thing. I'm still not sure how you brought it down, but if you really thought you could take either of us on, you wouldn't have bothered warning us ahead of time. Right?"

They all looked at each other, then turned back to stare at me. "Your mother and father are very worried about you, Dan."

I looked the ninja right in the eye. That was just about all I could see of him. "Tell them I said hello," I replied, earnestly. "And to stop trying to find us."

"They only want what's best for you."

"I can take care of myself. Besides, I imagine Joseph is more than happy that I'm out of the picture now. So just go home and make up whatever story you want about me being a disobedient, ungrateful child. Or whatever it is ninjas say to their clan elders!"

"If you would consent," he said, slowly reaching into his belt. "They would like to speak with you alone. We were asked to give this to you, should one of us come across you alone at some point. It is a transmission signal." He flipped it to me, and I caught it. "Use this whenever you are ready," the ninja went on. "They will come and find you."

I waited until they left before taking my eyes off to stare at the transmitter. It looked like little more than a red button with a single switch in the middle. Pocketing it, I turned towards Rachel, who was staring at me closely.

"Are things always this exciting with you?" she asked, considering me carefully.

"Some days, it isn't nearly as dull," I told her, grinning. "Those are the days when I use the gloves."

"I'd like to see that sometimes, but I think my curfew is long gone, so I'd better go."

I watched her go, feeling the need to say something. She moved really fast, though, and was down the road and out of sight before my brain could catch up. I looked after her for several minutes, before it finally occured to me that I'd parked Kamegami there for a reason. The steam had finally cleared, leaving behind a stench somewhat reminecent of a funeral home. Rachel had gotten the hatch off for me, at least. I climbed up the side of the capsule part of the way, enough to where I could have a peek inside. What was waiting for me in there nearly made me fall backwards.

"A child?" I marveled.

It was a child!


End file.
